I realize it has been several weeks since my last update if you don’t count the food and drink section! It’s funny how time flies, even when I’m not working, as I continue to explore the city during the day and while my wife and I find new places to eat and tour in the evenings. There is still a lot of ground that we have not covered. Amazingly we have yet to do any of the “tourist” things such as the riverboat tour, the giant Ferris wheel, or the amusement park island which has its own Universal Studios.
I figure I’ll cover some of the fun highlights that have happened in the last few weeks as we continue to experience the people and culture that is Singapore. Like most foreign countries with a number of US citizens, there is an American Association here. We joined it partly because it has frequent seminars on finding jobs in Singapore, which is useful for me, and other topics such as the health care system. I’m actually attending the healthcare system seminar tomorrow night which is being led by a doctor from UCLA. Speaking of finding people who are pretty much from our hometown, over a week ago we attended a pub crawl with the American Association which started in the nearby Boat Quay area. There were probably about 50 people of different age ranges.
One of the interesting things we notice, and this is neither good nor bad it just is, you have to remember that my wife was born in China, moved to the US when she was 10, and then lived in the West LA/West Hollywood area up until college when she then moved down to Irvine. We think that living in Singapore with a large Chinese population most people see her first as Chinese and not American. Where this gets interesting is when we meet new people, they may not think that she is from the United States and we can’t tell if this is why it seems some people don’t approach her and begin a conversation. I won’t get into a long discourse about this but where it’s funny as when she opens her mouth, you know she is American! From then on, we have great conversations.
One example of this, and the small world stories, was during the pub crawl. At the second location we sat down at a table with three blondes and one brunette (sorry! I just classify them that way) whose husbands were in the bar getting their drinks. As I began to talk to one side of the table, YAW began a conversation with one of the wives on the other side of the table. The next thing I know, I find out the wife also worked at Hoag Hospital for a number of years as a nurse however this was a few years before I worked there. Needless to say, of all the people we would meet in Singapore meeting one who grew up in Lake Forest and worked in Newport Beach was not something we expected! From that point on we had a lot of conversations that evening with this group and found out there are number of things in common. It was much more fun that we initially had expected. Many have not been here much longer than us! The one thing not in common is one of the first questions often asked of the man (me!!) which is “what do you do for work?” As soon as I say “nothing”, I’ll see a few confused looks, then they look at my wife, then they look back at me and say “man I wish I had your life!”
Then the question is what is my life? I continue to look for jobs and have two possibilities, one with an old employer and the second with a healthcare software company that I have experience with while working at Hoag. Both of these are still a few weeks out but they are at least promising. Otherwise my typical day is somewhat that of a house husband. I make my wife fresh juice in the morning and walk her to work on Mondays. The other days she takes a taxi to a different building which pretty much means I say goodbye at the door. During the day I have time to swim, go to the gym (which has its little rock climbing wall), find restaurants close to us for good, inexpensive food, cleanup a bit of course, send e-mails, etc. etc. We’ve cooked once since we have been here and realized it’s too much work! It is actually easier and cheaper to go out. Now if we could just find a good Mexican place! We found good steakhouse (see Food & Drink).
I’m debating taking the subway system and going to a different station every day just to say that I’ve done it. But like many cities, when you get to a certain point outside the main city core, each subway stop tends to repeat itself meaning there is a mall and food. Therefore we realize it’s time to venture forth into the world that is Southeast Asia and begin picking trips to nearby countries to see what we can see.
While I am on my little rant the only other funny story recently was taking the subway system and getting on the train that I knew was going the right direction but at the next stop the overhead and the computerized map showed I went the wrong way! I got off at the stop but as I looked around the station I realized I was going the right way, the train messaging and computer were backwards. I looked around and saw other people had confused looks on their faces. When the next train came by going the right direction, we all got back on and eventually made it to the correct destination. Lesson learned is pay attention to the subway station names which are easy to see as you pull into them; just in case you think you’re going the right way and the train mistakenly tells you you’re not!
All in all this is an easy place to live. It’s easy to get around and you pretty much can trip over restaurants every 10 feet. Or maybe make that 3 meters. This week is the first week that some major thunderstorms have come in each afternoon. These are actually nice, when you’re inside, because they cool down the air and make for some interesting viewing as you watch the sheets of water go by the windows. We’ve now begun week 7 here and I’m sure there’ll be some more interesting stories coming up! Or I’ll just rant some more!