Today is the end of Wednesday – half the week has gone by. It was nice to have the couch, chaise, and TV stand delivered Tuesday afternoon. It makes it much easier to work at my makeshift table (two cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other). We found out yesterday that our air crates have arrived and it will take 5-10 days to clear customs. That should put the arrival of our belongings just after our dining room table gets delivered next Tuesday. It would be nice if we can time it since there is that $50 charge every time we want some large item delivered (since I left the $500 cash on deposit).
Luckily there are no issues for the two Carrefour deliveries! We went on a shopping spree on Sunday to get a lot of the basics we need – home phone, trash cans, iron, hair dryer, rice maker, towels, etc. When you spend $150 or more at what is in effect a very large 2-story Target, you get free delivery the next day. This is super fantastic! Carrying an ironing board in the 90 degree (30 celsius or so) would not be as much fun although it is only a 30 minute walk.
The Carrefour is a lot of fun to walk around. They have everything you need and the prices are very low. We spent a few hours on floor 2, the home goods, and never made it to the grocery store. We have already realized it is true that no one eats at home. Other than my PB&J at lunch, after my swims each day, we eat out. The prices for basic meals are $8-$10 (about $7-$9 US) and if we go to a Hawker Center, it is less. There is one 3 blocks from us but we have yet to try it. There are so many places nearby to try that we may not cover them all in two years! Last week was a pizza place (black truffle night), Sunday night a good Thai place in the underground mall under our building, Monday night a not as good Chinese place as we hoped, last night a food park nearby in a large Citibank building – it is amazingly an endless supply and we will soon begin documenting these in a food section!
Today I finally got a printer which is only a big deal because printing a map to find your way walking around is very, very handy! Since I don’t have to be anywhere anytime soon, I often wander the area and find what is around here. Tomorrow we finally get our government cards which means iPhones by Thursday night. Funny how much a phone is a necessity here. There is an app for getting taxis which not only lets you ask for one in the app but you can see where they are on the map and how long before they reach you. Taxis are everywhere and are very handy when you are carrying a printer box home. They do go quite fast so if you get queasy, you have been forewarned.
Time for some US news. It is one of the few channels not subtitled in Mandarin. We do get Fox and CNN now. Interesting to see the US waking up as we are going to sleep the same day.
Have a great day!