Sometime in November? 2011

I'm really not sure what the date is.  First of all they confuse me by putting the day first, then the month.  How am I ever going to know what the date is.  Second, it has been so busy around here in the past few weeks.  My calender on my iphone has something on it everyday. 

Let's start back a couple of weeks ago with Food Fest.  What an event !!  Two gyms and some outside are are packed full of booths with food at them.  All kinds of food.  There were 12 country booths.  Country booths make their own food from their countries to sell.  Then we had over 50 high school clubs participate with topics of food of their own.  If I had a favorite, it would have been the mac and cheese from one of the high school clubs.  There was entertainment and they love their loud music over here.  My part in all this was to help Chris C.  with the equipment.  When we say equipment, we mean tables, chairs, tableclothes, plates, napkins, bowls, forks, spoons, ice, bouncy castle and tons of other stuff that we had to order and divy out to each booth and set up the gyms as well with tables for people to sit at.  Next year, I have volunteered my services to lead this whole thing.  Luckily I have a great group of people that we can rely on to do their jobs and get everything done.  It will be hectic, but it will make time go faster.  Here's a few pictures of Food Fest 2011

High School Gym Food Fest

Middle School Gym Food Fest

High School Gym crowd

India Booth

K

Korean Booth

Phillipines Booth

China booth

Korean Dress

Somewhere in the midst of Food Fest, we went to Renaissance Festival performance.  Below is a picture of an Exxon co-worker's daughter.  The girls were jesters of course.  The Festival had singers and instrumental entertainment.  At the intermission, they served little hors'derves (sp)

Thank goodness that we had off Monday after Food Fest.  Another holiday!!  No wonder these people take so many 3-4 day trips.  They're off all the time. 


I went on a shopping trip all over the island with the Exxon ladies.  We rented a big bus and stopped at about 6 major spots.  I even won a "Lucky Draw."  It was a tassel that you hang on cabinets, or lamps.  I've seen them even in people's cars.   We went to a place called Pottery Jungle.  Yes, it was in a jungle area.  There were so many pots of all kinds everywhere.  I heard that the government is shutting them down because they need to sell their land to some kind of tech business.  Isn't that said.  For years, your family is doing well and then all of a sudden the government takes it all away. 


Saturday, we went to the high school dance teams show of Romeo and Juliet.  It was fabulous.  There were about 100 in the high school dance class.  I'm sure that you are wondering why we go to all these productions.  Well, Elliott is either doing lighting, backstage or videoing. 


Monday, I took a trip down to Marina Bay to play Mah Jongg with the Exxon ladies again.  I'm not any good at it, but I keep going and I'm learning.  The view was absolutely amazing.  You could look out one side of their apartment and see Marina Bay, the Marina Bay Sands and all the ships off shore.  I have never seen so many ships in all my life.  Out the other side of the apartment, you could see the loading docks with all the cargo containters.  It was really interesting to watch the day to day work at the docks.  So many containers.  

Antique Chinese Piece- I want two

Looking at Marina Bay Sands from Mah Jongg game

Marina Bay from Connie and Joe's apartment

So Many Ships !!





During the week of the 15th, my new friend Chris packed up her house to ship it to Japan.  She is leaving in January and I am extremely sad.  She has been such a big help and a great friend to me even before I left Houston.  I will truly miss her.  While she was packing up the house,  we babysat their dog.  Treasure.  She is such a good dog.  I swear that she was on doggie downers.  Here's a picture of she and Ernie.  She's watching him cut the grass with scissors.  Right after he finished, she went and pottied on it. 

Ernie and Treasure

Well, I guess that's all for now.  Got to get some flyers and other paperwork formated for Trivia Night at the school tomorrow night.  I need to come home to Houston to rest.  Not long.  



October 2011

Well it's been a busy month and it seems to be getting busier with Food Fest, Thanksgiving, several performances for Elliott to light, and of course getting ready to come home.  Only 45 more days (I think)  This week has been busy with Food Fest which is huge.  There are 12 Country booths that serve food and 40 or 20 High School Club booths that also do food.  Chris and I are in charge of ordering and setting up chairs, tables, electricity, plates, bowls, forks, spoon, ice, bouncy castles and much, much more.  It is going to be a fabulous day.  I'll send pictures if I get any.  I may be running around trying to eat everything in site. 


Elliott is all signed up for his Interim Semester Trip in February to Bhutan which is north of the Himalayas.  He's really excited.  Luckily, he doesn't have to buy much more than clothes because he has all his Phimont stuff with him.  I hope he remembers to take some decent pictures.  I think he's got a camera on his Christmas list. 

I have another computer on my Christmas list.  I'm so excited that we now have American TV 2 Go.  Although I am watching everything at the wrong time.  It is now available.  We usually dvr things to watch at night.  Just looking at the commercials makes us sometimes forget where we are.  Sonic ice !! So much more to put on our list. 

Melanie Leary Huges and her daughter Grace blessed us with a visit.  We had a great time.  It was a little trying sometimes.  This town is just not friendly to strollers.  Too many escalators.  Not enough elevators.  We did get to go to the zoo and eat with the Orangatans.  This zoo is really nice.  Even a Komodo Dragon !!  Scarey !!  I must say that we need to try the Nigh Safari at the zoo next time when it is cooler.  By the time we got to the end, we were looking at pictures on the trail and saying how nice those animals look and kept walking.  It was very hot and humid.  You could just stand there and sweat. 

We also got to go the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Mall.  Ernie was off for yet another holiday,  (They have so many) so he was able to drive us there and we didn't have to take a cab.  It was kind of overcast, so you couldn't see too far.  But you could see other countries in the area. 

We did eat more than our fair share of Chili's.  Melanie doesn't get american food too often either. None of us were complaining.  3 times in a week.  Is that too much? 

On her last day, we drove out to the west side of the island.  It was empty.  It was true country side. We drove through the huge cemetary and looked at the grave stones.  While we were there, a funeral was going on.  there is a picture of a modern hearse at the bottom.  It is gold and looks like a pagoda.  When we were leaving, another bus and hearse were coming in for another funeral.  This hearse was a little different.  It looked like a glass pagoda with red top and corners and stuff hanging off the sides.  It looked like something that you would see in a carnival.  Quite amusing to see. 

I will try not to wait so long to post pictures and notes.  Before you know it we will be home.  We're aren't going anywhere for Thanksgiving, so give us a call.  We're only off Thursday and Friday, but that's okay, we were off Wed, Thurs. and Fri of last week for Fall Break.  Hope to plan a trip somewhere around here or Australia for Spring Break.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Ernie doesn't complain too much. 
Better Go for now,

Love to all,
Trece

Elliott Signing up for Interim Semester to Bhutan

Ernie cleaning out the Flower Beds.  He has 1/3 of it done.

Beginning to Feel at Home

 

Elliott's Tech Group - First Play

Really?  Did they have to put those in the package?

Orchestra Concert-Elliott Does Lighting

Grace is Scouting out the Halloween Candy

How to Catch a Bug in Singapore when you don't know what it is

On Top of Marina Bay Sands Hotel looking at the city

Looking out at the High Rise Apartments.  Millions !!

Looking to the side on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Big Fountain in Marina Bay Shopping Center

On top of Marina Bay Hotel-All those things in the water are ships.  There are many more

Old Tombstones at the Cemetary

Check out the Gold Hearse in the back.  Yes, they bring buses to bring the family to cemetary

A few better looking plots.  They have grass on top to grow plants or trees.

Summer Chicken Salad in October !!

3 October 2011 Busy Week

I must apologize for not posting sooner.  It's been a busy week.  Not sure what all I did, but I don't remember sitting down much. 

Chris and I went out to lunch at the Subway at school.  It's always good to have an American meal.  We did some errands around the school like get money, get more uniform shirts and went by the office to see how I sign up to substitute.  The person that takes care of that wasn't there at the time but her assistant told me where to go on line to find the paperwork.  I think I have to do a resume.  I'm not sure and I really don't feel like making one now, just to sub.  Maybe after the first of the year, when things are settled down. 

Thursday, I took the MRT into Plaza Singapura to meet some other ladies to pick our baskets for the PTA Trivia night that we are putting on in November.  This is different from the Food Fest the week before.  This is just for adults.  We are in charge of the centerpiece baskets for each table that will hold the paperwork and pencils and telephones for those that feel the need to cheat at the game.  After we got 24 cute cheap baskets at Daiso (a Japanese $2 dollar store) we split up and I sent to Carre Four to pick up some things that I could only get there.  Good Ciabata bread, cheap chocolate chips and a few other things that I can only find at Carre Four in town.  Now to ride back on the train to Woodlands.  I had 4 bags of stuff and you should see the looks that you get when you carry groceries on the train.  From Woodlands MRT, I took a taxi back to the house. 

I baked some chocolate chip cookies for the bake sale at school, but I didn't take them because they were too flat.  Ernie said that I had too much butter in it.  I guess a block of butter here isn't near enough to a stick of butter at home. I hate metrics.  I can't believe that I taught it for all those years and really never learned it.  Who needs it anyway?  Me !!  So we'll eat the cookies instead.

Friday, Chris and I took a trip up to a new place.  Holland Village.  It's another expat area.  That's where Chris would like to move to when they come back from Japan.  What am I going to do without my friend for a year and a half?  We went to a store called Lim's to get Elliott some cargo uniform shorts.  He's been wearing the regular shorts and looks good, but he  says that they are getting tight.  Went to a Thai restaurant and had Tofu.  It wasn't like Kim Son's Deluxe Tofu, but it was good. 
After I got home, I got ready for another carpet auction.  Found the address to the Raffles Hotel and put it in my iphone maps.  It seems that it's the only way, we can get around these days.  Still looking for a large rug  to go under the dining room table.  We found parking across from the hotel.  It is absolutely marvelous, old world hotel.  The auction was held in a small room off a back courtyard of the hotel. This time it was the PTA hosting the auction.  It was a different carpet man.  He wasn't as good and he didn't come down as low as the EME auction did.  He also didn't offer as many carpets.  He only had 40.  There was only one that we liked and by the time the bidding was finished on it, it was up to $8500.  No way.  We decided that we would look around or wait until the EME spring carpet auction and hopefully one would come our way then.  There are some that are called tribal rugs.  They are of course handmade and made mostly in reds and blacks.  They are not symmetrical.  I liked them as they were unusual.  But Ernie didn't like them.  I think they would make great rugs in a home in Austin or that area.  Maybe the fish camp.  I will leave with one even if it's for the kitchen.  As we were leaving, I took this picture of the Raffles Hotel.  I plan on taking a tour of it soon as it was beautiful..

Raffles Hotel from Beach Street



Saturday was "building day."  Ernie and Elliott built my pantry and my bathroom shelves.  I know it's not much but at least I don't have to walk to the  other room to get my stuff to cook with. 





I still have some stuff in the other room but this is all I need immediately to cook with.  And to think that I had a whole closet back in Houston for a pantry.  I don't have a picture of the bathroom shelves yet.  I still need a few more baskets and then I'll take a picture.  It does take quite a bit of room in the bathroom but at least we don't have buckets all over the floor in the bedroom now. 

Sunday, we set out for a Challenger store which a guy told us it was a lot like Fry's.  He was wrong.  It is nothing like Fry's.  It has a bunch of stuff that people have no idea what to do with.  Ernie and Elliott decided to head for Sim Lim (that's the place with the 6  stories of little hole in the wall stores of computer stuff).  Since we were parked in a great parking space at Tampines Mall and I like the mall, they took the MRT to Sim Lim and I stayed to shop.  Not 15 minutes after they left, I went into a little computer store across from the Challenger store and saw a 300 watt  power supply that Ernie was looking for. I sent pictures to them to see if it was what we needed.  They decided to look for a little bit at Sim Lim and I shopped at Tampines Mall.  About an hour and a half later, they headed back and met me at the little shop.  It was exactly what they needed.  Ernie put it in the computer as soon as we got home.  Can you believe that little old me know what to get?  I really can't believe it either.  Now hopefully, it will work. 

Today was nothing special.  I went to the PTA meeting at 10 where they were discussing Interim Semester changes. Of course there are always the Negative Nancys that dislike anything that anyone does.  After the meeting, I walked down to the Marsiling MRT and rode it one station over to the Woodlands MRT to go the the mall and the good Cold Storage grocery store.  It's so much better than the one by me.  Then I walked across the street to the Community Center, picked up some cash and took a cab home.  Sent some emails, straightened up a few piles and did some laundry.  Before I knew it, it was time to cook dinner.  Time flies here.  It seems that I'm up every day at 6:30 and in bed around 11:30.  Never enough time in the day.  Put my Halloween decoration on the door.  the whole street put stuff out on Sunday. Stuff is hanging from the carports and the gates.  We've got to figure out where we're hanging out.  I hear that it's way too crowded here then.  They say that about a 1000 kids come from everywhere to the Woodlands because we give out the best candy.  Sounds like toothbrushes need to be given out also. 

Better get to bed.  Tomorrow is Interim Sememster selection day.  I would like to be there when Elliott puts his choice in.  His first choice now has changed to Annapura Trek to Mt. Everest.  His second choice is Tibet.  Third is Mountain biking in New Zealand.  I guess we'll be buying some severe winter clothes when we are home for Christmas.  Maybe I should start ordering somethings online and having them sent to Daddy's.  Keep your fingers crossed that he get's his first choice. 

Night to all,

Love,
Trece 

26 Sept 2011 What A Weekend !!

Where does the weekend  go?  It has been such a busy weekend and it started with Friday night.  It started with Elliott going to a "Survivor" fund raiser at school.  He and a group of the Tech Club joined up as the "Yellow" team.  They had different competitions from shooting to swimming.  I think they stayed in until the last 2 or 3 groups.  It lasted until after 10.  He and a friend, Vincente, ate at KFC before they headed home to wait for us.  Ernie and I were on the other end of the island at Sentosa Island for the 10 year anniversary party for Singapore Chemical Plant.  The party started at 6:30, so we had to leave around 5:30 to get there in time because of traffic.  Thank goodness for iphone maps. It's the only way that we don't get lost here.  Sentosa Island is a resort island.  A part of is called Sentosa World Resorts which includes several hotels, Universal Studios and some other things.  You enter by parking underground in this massive parking garage.  Huge columns hold up the above structures.  The big castle is the castle in Shrek.

Entering Sentosa Island

Not a great picture but this is the underground parking at Sentosa

 

After parking, we went up through the Hard Rock Hotel.  It was awesome.  Didn't get pictures this time.  Maybe I'll go back some day and get some.  We entered the Convetion Center and visited with some people that Ernie has worked with at Baytown and Mt. Belvieu plants.  There were supposed to be about 600 people.  They had another dinner last week that supposed to have the majority of the employees there.  Huge event. Ernie and I sat down at a table that was set for 10. Only 6 of us showed up so we had more food available than some tables. Not sure how they selected who sat by whom. Ernie knew one of the couples but not the other.  They had an announcer/DJ guy that entertained throughout the whole meal.  They also had 2 bands made up of employees.  They were really very good.  He also had contests where people could win prizes.  Of course, we didn't win anything.    The whole thing was very flashy and very loud.  (They like things loud over here.) We had an eight course meal of Chinese food.  It started with some good appetizers and then it went downhill in my opinion.  But of course, I really don't like real chinese food.  Chicken and walnuts were good, but then they brought out the fish.  Yuk.  The waiter cut it up and served it to us. Then he put the head and tail on a plate in front of me.  I swear it was looking at me. 

It was really flashy.

And very fishy !!

They showed several power point presentations about the plant.  It was interesting to see how the plant has changed and how the people that I did know have changed.  Towards the end, while we were eating, they held a "Lucky Draw," (They like those here too.)  They had tickets to Universal, dinners, hotel stays, dvd players, ipods, and 2 ipads.  No, we didn't win.  But that's okay, it would mean more to the people that did.  Headed home.  Finally got there about 11:45.  Vincente and Elliott were at the house watching tv.  We sat around talking and then asked Vincente if he needed a ride home.  Ernie and Elliott took him home.  He lives back in town near our old compartment.  I think they got back around 1:30 am.  We were all exhausted. 

Ernie and Elliott were up around 7:30 because they wanted to go into town and see an Audi racing sailboat.  These are supposed to race around the world.  I did not want to get up early to see a boat so I slept in.  I piddled around and put up some things around the house.  They got back around 4.  Elliott fell asleep on the couch.  He was going back into town with Pablo and some friends to eat.  That's all there is to do around here is eat.  I can't believe that these people aren't huge. 

Ernie and I drove into town about 5 to the American Club for EME Carpet Auction.  They gave us cards with numbers on them to hold up when we wanted to bid on something.  We also were given a packet with descriptions of the carpets and their estimated worth.  When I looked at the prices of the ones that I wanted, I gasped.  Our friends told us that they would actually sell for about 1/4 to 1/3 of the price and I felt better.  We looked around at all 80 carpets and circled the numbers of the ones that we liked.  We needed runners to use beside our bed and we needed a big one to go under our dining table.  13 x 9 would be ideal.  Enough room to pull the chairs out and still be on the carpet. 

The auction started around 8.  The man that was holding the auction is the owner of Hedger's carpets.  He was quite entertaining. The first rug went very cheap.  One rug that I wouldn't have minded Elliott having was in a bidding war between friends.  It went for more than what I would have put in Elliott's room.  There of course put into the auction a Lucky Draw, a Guess the Knots, and a Mystery Box.  The Mystery Box money was to be donated to the EME group for expenses.  it went for $1100.  As it was opened, a red bra came out first.  Then a nice rug about 5 X 4 and then out came a really nice 8X10 that had some silk in it.  It was a steal at that price.  The first rug that we liked came up for bid.  Ernie wanted to go 4 for it but someone told us don't go above 3.  Well.  We lost it at 4.  Oh well, there were 40 more rugs to go and the crowd was thinning out.  Hopefully, we could get something.  Some rugs went for less than 500.  None were over 4000.  Some were very pretty and some were not.  These rugs were handmade in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and some places that I don't remember.  They were all very nice, but not my colors.  Finally after 11, the last rug came up.  He wouldn't even come down much off the listed price, so we said forget it.  We'll wait for the next auction put on by the PTA this coming Friday.  But I didn't walk out empty handed.  I did get to bring home a rug.  Here it is:

Maybe, if I water it??





Another late night over.  We all slept in Sunday.  Headed out about 11:30 to shop at IKEA first. Elliott bought a tv cabinet for his tv that we are trading with him.  Of course, we went in to eat first at the restaurant.  It was much more crowded this time.  I think half of Singapore was there.  Meatballs and Fried Chicken again for me. Yum.  It was really good.  And cheap!!  Our whole bill was only $28.  That must be why they eat here. 

After lunch we walked around the store again and picked out Elliott's cabinet and we looked at an island for our kitchen.  We could actually use it later if we wanted to.  Nice butcherblock countertop.  We'll measure when we get home.  After this we walked over to Courts to buy a tv that would fit in our tv armoire so that we could actually close the doors on it.  The one we have in there is too big and we can't close the doors.  Looks bad.  We found one and also found another telephone that will stay charged up.  Now we can hook up our land line and our vonage line.  We'll put the vonage line on the new phone as we probably won't use our land line. 

Elliott found a real steal.  He has been saving his money to buy speakers and an amp for upstairs.  He found a set that also came with a dvd player.  It was very hard to hear the speakers though because they have everything turned up so loud with too much bass.  These will be delivered Wednesday and I know Elliott is really excited as he has had no tv of his own for 3 months. 

Of course, we needed to go to the store at Cold Storage, so we dropped off all the boxes (the car was packed) and headed off to the mall. It was 6 already and we were all tired, so we picked up some pastry type stuff and the usual groceries and headed home to watch the Formula One Grand Prix that was on tv.  It was live in Singapore Marina Bay Area.  In between commercials and racing, Ernie and Elliott sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a cake that they had bought Saturday.  Chocolate layer cake with strawberries on top.  It was great.  And a great way to end a long weekend.  I'm exhausted.  Now to get to that laundry that I've been putting off for a couple of days.  Better go for now.

Really small, but really good

Love to all,

Trece

21 Sept. 2011 - Lunch and Interim Semester

The past few days have been busy.  Monday was busy with people coming into to take care of the place.  The Allied people came in and took away 99% of our boxes. There are a few left so we can pack away all the stuff that we don't know what to do with or we need to give it away.  Then the "guy" came to look at the list of fix it things that need to be done.  Of course, he was not able to fix any of them at the time so he has to come back.  And then finally at 5 p.m., the IKEA guys delivered our new cabinet/pantry for the kitchen and the shelving unit for the bathroom.  We bought them both in black so Elliott could use them when he gets in college or after that. 

Yesterday, I got to spend the day out of the house.  Chris and I went into town and met about 14 other EME women for lunch.  Chris drove in since she has the car while her husband is relocating to Japan.   It was a rainy day all day so having a car really helped.  The restaurant was a little Italian place called La Braceria.  We started with a soup or salad, then a table full of 5 different pizzas, then we had our main entrees of either Linguine and Clams or a Tomato Base with Crab meat over spaghetti.  Finishing up the meal, we had little puffed pastries full of cream and chocolate drizzled over them.  It was all delicious.  And the company was great.  I'm even beginning to learn recognize some faces and actually put names to a few.  Who could believe that we could spend 3 hours eating lunch. 

Afterwards, I had to get to Tanglin Mall as I had a hair appointment again.  It seems like only yesterday that I was there getting it done.  I shared a cab with two of the other women as they were going right by Tanglin on their way home. Got to the appointment a little early, so they started on my pedicure.  Danny started on my color.  He doesn't talk much.  Acutally, he doesn't talk at all.  And the little girl that does my pedicure is just as cute as a bug.  She just smiles.  Got the same fantastic neck massage when they washed out my hair.  When Adrian came out to cut my hair, he was shocked at how much it had grown. He was also shocked at how much hair that I have.   We decided to cut it a little shorter around the front and layer it up the back alittle more. By the time I get home in December, I may be bald.  It will be cooler.  Ernie met me in the mall after the appointment and we went to Chili's and had dinner.  Southwestern eggrolls and free refills on drinks.  Best place in town!!  Lots of traffic on the way home.  We sure are glad that I have an iphone to map out our directions home.  We need to get the maps for the Garmin and keep it in the car.  It's really hard for me to ride in a car and read a map even on the phone. 

Today the "guy" from Allied came and hung my pictures.  When the rest of the boxes are out of the house, I'll take more pictures and post them.  It's beginning to look like a home all the way down to the blue comforter on the white couch.  Trying to get all the towels and sheets from the extra bedrooms washed up so I can put them away.  I hear that sometimes they still get musty smelling with all the humdity here.  I've put the air con's on "dry" which means they need to be at about 22-24 degrees to get the moisture out.  Everyone puts these "hippo" things that are dehumidfiers in their closets to keep the moisture and smells down.  I need to go into town and get some more as I have more closets that need lots of protection.  They've already started to get droplets of water in them in less than 2 weeks.  Looks like I'll be changing those often.  I'm sure I'll have to start raising our temperatures more because I've heard that some people that left theirs around 23 or so, had a $1600 light bill.  Ernie will die.  Of course, he doesn't want to remember that they help pay that bill too.  I may as well cut all the arms off my shirts and make shorts out of all my pants. 

Tonight we had a meeting at school about Interim Semester.(Of course we walked since we are so close.)  It is a required course that the high school students go on in February.  Since it is required, the company pays for it too.  The kids have 57 different choices of courses.  7 are in Singapore and the other 50 are all over the world except the US.  There are several in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.  There are some in Africa, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.  There are some in Turkey, Russia and India.  Everywhere except US and South and Central America.  I guess they figure that we can go there any time.  Ha Ha.  Some are service projects, some are just studies of the culture or aspects of the area,  some are hikes and high adventure.  Elliott has looked at Annapurna near Mt. Everest, West Coast of Australia, Hiking trek in NewZealand and even a Theater aspects in London.  He's even thinking about the one to Russia or Poland.   Who knows which ones he's narrow down to.  He's got two weeks to decide.  The Seniors pick first, then the juniors. and so on.  They divide up the alphabet and move it around so the A's don't always get to pick first.  This year, the M's are the fourth group for the juniors.  Thank goodness he's not a freshman this year, the M's pick last. The teachers are the chaperones. 10 kids for each teacher.   We'll keep you informed on which one he ends up with.  Hopefully, we don't have to go out and buy ski clothes for Switzerland.    

Well, it's time to head to bed.  Another busy day tomorrow.  I have a meeting with the Booster Booth ladies to talk about the Trivia Night put on the the Boosters and the school.  I'm headed to the American club.  Yippee!!

Love to all, 

Trece

16 Sept 2011 Big Day At The Market

Chris called early with an offer of two field trips.  Of course, I'm game.  Chris told me about a great "wet market" at Yishon just east of here and a great warehouse store on the southwest side called QB.  I decided to take her up on it because I had nothing better than laundry to do.  Quick 15 minute shower and change and Chris was here to pick me up. 

She showed me how to order from QB on line.  It has meats, cheese, frozen foods, pastas, and other stuff at lower prices.  I ordered about $220 worth of goods.  Since her husband Tim has been tranferred to Japan, Chris has the card. (Chris and her daughter are not leaving until Dec. thank goodness.) It makes it much easier to do these places if you have a car. We went to the wet market first.  It's much nicer than the wet market in China Town.  It's smaller, but much cleaner.  We did have a hard time finding a parking place.  These people don't give you a break.  We found a place but it was in a hard place to get in.  Chris tried backing in and she got it the first time.  She was shocked as she said that she is one of those that doesn't back in.  She pulls in.  I'll be pulling in and I don't care. 

To get in to the main market you have to walk by some unknown terrible smells.  Not Durian.  I'm getting used to that.  We got some shrimp.  I think it was a kilogram, but I'm not sure.  They had the heads on them, but I wasn't afraid.  I've headed shrimp before living on the coast.  Walked across the aisle and ate some fruit that I didn't know what it was.  It was good, but not enough to have to peel a whole bunch.  Picked up some corn on the cob and some fresh green beans. We were both getting hungry but we had places to go.  So no food for us. 

It took forever to get out of the parking lot.  After about 30 minutes in line, we found out that the machine at the access arm was not working and this lady was having to take your NETS card from your car and put it in the machine by hand.  Finally, out of there.  We decided to take these things back to the houses since we needed to go to another place on the other side of the island and we didn't know how long it take.

We headed down the (KJE)  Kranje Expressway  to Boon Lay Way to go to QB.  We had our order numbers ready to just pick it up, but they told us to go to the back.  We didn't understand why until we saw the extra stuff that we could pick up to buy.  I picked up some boysenberrys, some Worchestershire sauce, some pasta, some bacon and some more cheese.  In the end, I had 4 baskets full of meat and other things.  We headed on back to the house and put this all away.  I found out that I could have had this ordered since I had ordered over $200.  But it was worth the experience and the trip to go in the car. 

Of course, I had to walk to the store to get some flour since Cold Storage didn't have any to bring with the order that I ordered on line yesterday.  Unreal.  Flour?  When I got to Fair Price, I couldn't find any regular flour.  All they had was Organic flour, so I decided that I would use Bisquick to cook the shrimp.  Tastes the same. 

It's always such an experience when shopping around here.  I don't know if I told you about the card that you have to have in your car.  It has some sort of electronic card reader that it sits in.  It's used for all kinds of things, like toll roads, parking lots and just about any other thing that they can charge you for.  You add cash to the card at an atm or 7-11 (yes-this is where they all moved to). The card is called a NETS card.  You can also used it at some restaurants.  It's very universal.  But you must have it. 

Tomorrow, we are headed back to IKEA.  I'm getting something to use for a pantry and something to put all the bathroom stuff in.  No matter what.  We also have to go the find a deadbolt.  The one we have on the front door is worn out.  We had keys made to match ours and they won't work because the things is worn out. Of course, I'm not real sure why we are worried.  I understand people don't lock their doors around here.  We also have to look for a gardener.  Someone to look after the 10 square feet of yard that we have.  It's in the lease.  We would like to put some shrubs outside the fence to make it look better.  Now it has weeds.  I'll post pictures when we get that done.  It's will probably be closer to winter.  Don't worry.  It's never really winter here.  It's always the same. 

At least we get to sleep late tomorrow.  Until 7:30.

Love to all,

Trece

12 September 2011 IKEA and 9/11

I can't believe it's already Monday.  Where did the weekend go? 

Saturday was a shopping day for a pantry cabinet of some kind and a dresser/cabinet for the bathroom.  I set up my iphone to map us to IKEA in Tampines (pronounced-Tam pi nays).  It wasn't very far.  Maybe 20km. It was a nice drive and it wasn't very crowded. It looks as if this is the "country" of the island.  Not as many high rises and a lot more land. 

Picture taken across the street from the Giant store

We followed the crowd into the parking garage.  I don't know where the people were, because it really wasn't crowded.  First we went through the showroom and looked at every piece of furniture that could possibly fit into the rooms and work for us.  Of course we didn't take measurements before we left, so we have to go back again next weekend and pick something out.  Found some other interesting things that I thought Jenna and Kacey might like.

Pink Rolly Chair for Jenna's desk

Blue Wardrobe for Kacy

I must say the best part of the store was after we went through the showroom.  Lunch.  Yep.  Swedish meatballs, potatos and Frid Chicken.  You really don't know how good it was.

After the delicious dinner, we went through the store part where they had everything else.  We found a clothes hanging rack to put in the "Helper's" room that I will use to dry my clothes out there instead of the closet in the extra room.  I'm not sure if I'll like it out there though.  It's not air conditioned.  I could use the closet space though. 

After we checked out, we went next door to the huge Courts store.  It's got all the appliances that you could ask for.  I bought a rice cooker.  It is so wonderful.  Makes cooking rice so easy and perfect.  Of course, it may be the rice that makes it so good.  I don't know, but it's easy.  We need so many more things, I can't even name them all. 

Across the stree is the Giant store.  Giant is the name.  It's like a Wal-Mart.  But I would say, it's a little lower level than a Wal-Mart if you can imagine.  But it's huge.  Did a little grocery shopping.  Found Elliott a new shower head that doesn't spray all over the place. 

By the time we left Giant, it was nearly 7.  Watched a movie called Man of the House and ate some popcorn.  The movie was hilarious.  It was filmed around UT with Tommy Lee  Jones as a Sheriff watching over 5 UT cheerleaders that saw a murder.  If you haven't seen it, rent it.  It's really funny.

Sunday was unpacking boxes day and shopping day.  Moved around stuff so I could get to the binders that I want to scan.  So I'll be able to get to them now to help out the girls with Pre-AP.  Maybe I'll get it all done before I get home in 3 years.  Went shopping at the mall around 3 and it wasn't too crowded.  Started on the 4th floor and worked our way down.  They are remodeling the mall nearest us now, so they open up a new store or two every week.  Ate an early dinner and went to cold storage.  I found lots that I needed and wanted.  I'm making stuffed bell peppers today and we're having Brats sausages tomorrow.  I need to go on line and order all the staple stuff and have it delivered.  Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow.  But not in the morning.  I have a Food Festival Meeting with PTA.  Maybe I'll have a chance to do it tonight. 

We watched the 9/11 ceremonies on tv.  Luckily all the news channels were putting them on.  I remember where I was.  Do you?

I need to go upstairs and unpack the boxes in the two extra bedrooms.  And then that will be all the boxes.  They can come and get that stuff.  I really think they killed a hundred trees just for us to move.  At least 100. 

I keep forgetting to show you this picture:

Guess what this is?





The day that I was unpacking all the kitchen stuff and washing it, I  apparently used too much soap.  All of the rooms that have water in them, have open drains in them.  I think the toilets go through another pipe, but I'm not sure.  I guess it's a good way to clean the floor too.  I'll be doing that a lot in the kitchen, because I hate that tile.  It looks just like the tile that we had in our house before we put in the slate.  It's light and it gets dirty really easy.  Yuk. I'd cover it with rugs, but you don't want those to get all wet if the soap comes out. 

I gotta for now.  Unpack those boxes and start cooking dinner and washing clothes.

Love to all,

Trece

Friday- 8 Sept. 2011 My First Booster Club Meeting

I sure am glad it's Friday. I thought that when I quit work I would be able to sleep late every day.  I was wrong.  I get up at 6:30 to make sure that Elliott is getting up.  I've stopped climbing the 32 steps up to his flight to get him.  I just call or text him.  I know that he will answer those. 


Melanie and I have skyped each other while Gracie is eating breakfast.  She is just too cute.  I can't wait to see her in October when they visit us.  It's like having our very own grandchild.


After skyping, I showered up for my first Booster Club meeting.  Luckily it wasn't too humid out at 9:30 when I made the short trip to the school.  Luckily it was downhill all the way.  I don't mind sweating coming back, but I just don't want to be all sweaty when I arrive.  I really can't believe that I'm going to join this.  I'm really not that kind of person.  But I have to do something to keep me busy.  I signed up for three different things this year.  Bake Sales.  I can do that.  Popcorn give away during exam time.  I also signed up for a fund raiser night called Trivia Time.  One of the teachers will be setting it up but she needs help with all the extra stuff for it.  I bet there were 60 or more moms there.  I did mention to one of the AP's that I was interested in subsituting and he was thrilled.  The president of the Booster club wasn't thrilled.  She said I would be subbing all the time if I signed up.  At $265 a day, I think I can afford to do it a couple of days a week.  I was told that the new 8th grade science teachers lives a couple of doors down from me.  Now I know who to give all those binders to after I scan the stuff inside. 


Afterwards, I hiked back up the hill to the house.  I thought about unpacking some more stuff, but nah.  I had done most of it Wednesday and I was sick of doing it.  There are about 10 or 15 more boxes to unpack.  But unfortunately there's not enough places to put my stuff.  We're going shopping Saturday to look for something to serve as a food pantry.  The kitchen will hold it, because the kitchen is very large.  It just needs more cabinets and drawers.  I don't even have a "junk" drawer.  I have junk boxes sitting on the living room floor now. 


I decided that if we were going to eat tonight, I had to make a trip to the Fair Price Market around the corner again.  It's not far. About 1/4 mile.  It's down hill getting there.  It's really humid.  I'm getting used to sweating all the time. There's this smell about this store that's not really appealing.  I don't know if it's the fish or what.  Personally, it's not the cleanest looking place in the world either.  I found some tuna fish in a can, some oreos, some ground meat, some sugar and some chicken feet.  I didn't buy the chicken feet.  Yuck !!  Made the long walk back home, up the hill.  (Why did Ernie think we needed to live at the top of the hill, I don't know,) 


As I was unpacking the groceries, my neighbor Kate rang the door bell.  She wanted to know if I wanted to take a ride with her to Cold Storage Market at the mall.  I jumped at the change.  She has just saved my family from starving.  She said that I needed to insist on keeping the car at least two days a week.  Just for times like these.  Definitely, I am going to learn how to drive here very soon.  I really hate having Ernie be the one to teach me how to drive here.  I'm sure that he'll scream at me.  At Cold Storage, I grabbed fresh fruit, pancake syrup, some pork strips, some mayo and pickles for my tuna, and  two loaves of bread.  I'm in heaven.  If I didn't have to fee the other two, I would just walk down to KFC around the corner every meal.  Thanks, Kate.  She's  originally from Melbourne, Australia.  Now I have 2 friends from Australia.  Mel and Kate. 


Elliott is headed to a birthday party in town tonight.  Apparently the birthday girl wants an Arabian Nights theme and everyone comes in costumes.  Elliott and another boy went shopping Tuesday for costumes.  He didn't wear it out of here, so I don't know what it looks like.  I think it's those balloony looking white pants and a red vest.  I hope he gets to wear clothes underneath.  Sent him with some extra money so he could take a cab home.  The kids that he is running around with are not the oil people kids.  Most of their parents are in the banking business.  I tell him that he may be running with a rich crowd and that he better watch it.  One girl's father is the CEO of Forbes Asia Pacific.  And she has an allowance of $2000 a week.  She said that her parents are making her pay for her college herself.  Can you imagine?  I can't. 


Chris and I took a cab into town yesterday for lunch.  It was great.  We went to Chili's at Tanglin Mall.  All the drink refills that you could ask for.  And lunch was quesadillas and baked potato soup.  Fabulous !!  And we got two bags of chips and salsa to take home free.  This is the place to be during the week.  Good Food, Good Company !!  What more could I ask for.  We got back just in time for the kids to get home from school.  Kind of felt guilty, but that's okay.  I'll take the boys later. 


Tomorrow we are going looking for a pantry no matter what.  I can't stand this mess anymore.  If I have to take a cab and shop for it myself, I will.  It's sometimes easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.  I'll let you know later if I've accomplished my mission.  At this point, it may be a quest instead of a mission. 


Better go for now.  We're watching specials on our terrible cable about 9/11.  It definitely brings back so many sad memories.  Let's pray that nothing like that will ever happen again. 


Love to all,


Trece

Tuesday 6 September 2011 Our First Homecooked Meal

Well I did it.  I made our first homecooked meal here.  Everything is just about unpacked in my kitchen.  I worked all day yesterday to get this accomplished and boy was I tired.  I made Chicken and Rice.  Of course over here, you can get it in a lot of the restaurants.  But I be that they didn't use three differents types of Campbells cream soups.  It was delicious.  Just like I made it at home.  But it took some getting there.

Of course, I had to unpack all the boxes yesterday to find my dishes and utensils.  Then I had to make sure that I had all the ingredients.  We had gone shopping Sunday, but I forgot the cream of mushroom soup.  So after today's unpacking (our bedroom and bathroom stuff)  I got dressed and walked around the corner to the nearest market.  It is a decent Fair Price store.  I saw several things that I needed and wanted, but I remembered that I only have two hands and it's about 1/2 mile back up the hill to the house.  So I found the soup.  Got some strawberries and Sara Lee Pound cake for dessert and milk and headed back up the hill.  I forgot to tell you that it was hot and sunny outside also and it was uphill.  Luckily, there are some small trees that line the sidewalks along the way. 

As I was walking by one of the trees, I saw something big out of the side of my head go up the tree.  At first  I thought it was a squirrel, but as I kept going around the tree to see it, it kept spiraling up the tree.  Finally, I think I saw it.  It was a really big fat lizard of some kind.  It was about a foot long and big and fat.  I started walking a little faster.  I don't really know what it was.  When I find out, I'll let you know. 

Yesterday, the cable/internet/telephone guys came out and hooked us up. The put all the internet and phone stuff on the second floor and the cable box on the first floor.  What they have here is different from what we have.  They have these little white plug in boxes that you just plug into an electrical outlet and it gives you wifi on any floor.  The cable box has to be moved to each floor if you want to use it though.  Of course, it's not worth moving.  Most of the tv shows are in chinese or some other language.  It does have video on demand shows though.  Most are old movies or tv shows that we don't watch or haven't watched in years or we've never heard of them.  One of my friends here told me that we can get a slingbox here and sign up with a company called American TV 2 Go.  I've got to have Ernie talk to her husband at work and get that going.  I maybe watching morning shows at night and night shows in the morning, but who cares.  I'm ready for some good american commercials.  I could sit and watch the weather channel and cnn all day and be happy. 

Today I also hung up all my clothes that I brought.  I am now officially in three bedroom closets.  I need to go in and fold up the long sleeve things and put them in the upper shelves of the closets and out of the way.  My shoe racks won't even fit in my closets.  There's plenty of closet space, it's just not hanging space.  Lots and lots of drawers and shelves, but very few hanging bars.  I also unpacked the boxes from our bathroom.  Now what do we do with all that stuff.  We had such a nice new bathroom that hid all that stuff.  I do miss my bathroom.  I guess that we'll have to head to IKEA to buy something to put all that stuff in.  I think that will have to happen this weekend for sure.  I don't want all those rubbermaid boxes laying in my bedroom floor for too long. 

We also need to make sure and buy a rug to put under our bed.  As I was getting up this morning from the bed, I rolled over and the bed rolled out from under me.  You see, our bedframe is not attached to our headboard.  Never has been.  But it wasn't a problem before when it was on carpet.  Now, it's on a wood floor and it moves all over.  Well, when it moved, I landed on my side.  It didn't hurt too much as it was one of those slow motion rolls.  Good thing there is a carpet auction coming up on the 23rd. 

Better get going for now, it's getting late and it's been a long day. 

Miss you all  and love you bunches,

Trece