Quick Trip to the US

I was really excited when I found out I would be going back to The States for a business trip in October.  When I went to book the flight I realized I could fly in a couple days early at no extra cost so I ceased the opportunity!  I was able to fly all the way to Augusta so I could spend a couple days with my parents.  It was wonderful to spend some quality time with them, go to the Clemson game, eat delicious American food, and shop!

We made it up to Clemson early to eat at the Waffle House
John is managing and give him his new car.

So glad I got to meet up with Katie! 

Love the glimpse of Tillman

It was Military Appreciation Day at the Clemson vs. Virginia Tech game and it was one of the best displays of military appreciation I have had the pleasure to witness.  It started off with Daniel Rodriguez, veteran turned football player, running down the hill waving the American flag.  There was the usual flyover and message from the troops but what made it so spectacular was the half time show.  The bands from both schools took the field together to play a medley of American and military songs as those that served were asked to stand and be honored.  After a 21 gun salute that sent chills up your spine, the bands played "Stars and Stripes Forever" as they formed the outline of the USA with the states of South Carolina and Virginia highlighted.

AMAZING!

On Sunday we went to church, got my fill of Zaxby's, and then my mom and I headed to D.C. for the business part of my trip.  Despite having to work, we were able to make the most of our time together.

DC Cupcakes!

So many delicious cupcakes.  We chose just six of them and
they were all wonderful!

A walk around the office to see the leaves changing colors.  There are
only two seasons in Singapore: Rainy Season and everything else.

 I have thoroughly enjoyed this week in the US but I will admit I am looking forward to getting back to Singapore.  Hopefully I will be able to return for another meeting in March, if not I will be back in June! 

Gardens by the Bay

We recently went to Gardens by the Bay to run a 5k with work.  We only got to see part of the Gardens so we decided to head back and see the rest.  On the plane ride over to Singapore I had watched the National Geographic Megastructures episode about the Gardens so I was excited to see this engineering wonder up close.  The Gardens were built on 250 acres of reclaimed land and has three very notable structures which can be seen in the picture below.  The Gardens were built with an innovative sustainable design which also makes them very unique.

Supertrees, Flower Dome, and Cloud Forest

We first walked around the free sections of the Gardens which seemed quiet and isolated.

We found some interesting topiaries 

And some large old tree trunks

Next we headed to the Cloud Forest conservatory and it was amazing!

The Falls inside Cloud Forest

Derek and I in front of The Falls

Cool view of the Marina Bay Sands from inside the Cloud Forest

Top of the Cloud Forest

Looking down from the top of the Forest

Such an amazing place

Looking down The Falls

One of the rivers at the bottom of the forest

Lion carved out of an old tree trunk

After the Cloud Forest we headed over to the Flower Dome.

Cactus Garden

This tree is bulging because it stores water like a jug

A look down at the gardens and seasonal flower display

Love the architecture.  The retractable sails are out to block some of the sunlight

One of the smaller water trees

Some beautiful hibiscus 

We may not have fall weather but we have some fall flowers!
We had to take some fall time photos. 

One of the many photo-op stations

Makes us miss the cool fall weather!

We bought tickets to do the Skywalk, which is a walkway suspended between some of the Supertrees, but a thunderstorm was rolling in so we decided to wait until another day.   We will definitely be back to Gardens by the Bay!

Hedger's Carpet Auction

A couple times a year the Expat Spouses Club hosts a carpet auction.  These aren't just any carpets, they are handmade Persian, Pakistani, and Afghan rugs.  We didn't know what to expect which is why we spent some time in the carpet shops on Arab Street to learn a little bit about them beforehand.

There were 80 rugs for auction and only about 30 couples in attendance.  Several of the couples are collectors and see these carpets as an investment so they were buying multiples.  We, however, did not buy a single one.  This was our first auction and it made us realize we don't know enough about fine carpet to be buying any just yet.  At the next auction we will go in with a budget and hopefully find something that we like.

From the info packet: Retail Price 11,000SGD
Afghan Chobi Carpet - N.E. Afghanistan  11'7" x 8'6"
Superfine masterpiece of finest 'ghazni' lambs wool pile
finely knotted in beautiful Old Persian Sultanabad Floral design.
Natural dyes.  Excellent quality piece.

 In general, the carpets went to the highest bidder for about one-third of the retail price which was written in the information packet.  As each carpet went on stage, the auctioneer gave detailed descriptions about where they came from, how they were made, how unique they were, and how long it took to make each rug.  It was fascinating to hear how a carpet would be women by some woman from a tribe in Afghanistan who would weave for 8 hours a day for a year to complete it.

As you can see, it wasn't a very big auction.  There were
never more than three people bidding on a single carpet.

We are excited for the next carpet auction!  Next time, we'll be ready!

After the auction we went out with two other couples to check out St. James Power Station which is an old power station converted into eleven night clubs.  We found a table in a bar and had a few drinks while watching the free entertainment.  The performance group had some pretty terrible singers but they went all out with costume changes and backup dancers.  I recorded them doing part of Greased Lightning.  This was not a song we expected to hear in the club, especially live and performed like bad cruise ship entertainment.  Oh, and since when were afros part of the Grease hairstyles?

Arab Street and Little India

Mosque at the end of one of the streets

Every Saturday we like to go explore and try something new.  Our choice this week was Arab Street which is known for its rugs and cloth goods.  We ate lunch at a nice little Turkish restaurant, bought a couple pashminas for myself, and learned a little bit about carpet.  We then ventured over to Little India and found they were having a large bazaar in preparation for Deepavali, which is a holiday at the end of next week.  We went through rather quickly since we were tired and short on time but we will certainly head back another time to see more of Little India.

Lots of fabric stores with the most beautiful fabrics
I've ever seen.  Too bad I left the sewing machine
at home.

One aisle of the bazaar

Street decorations for Deepavali in Little India

The Godfather Dinner & Dance

The recreation club with our company is very active in Singapore.  It is run by employees for employees and they arrange many events throughout the year.  We recently went to the Gardens by the Bay 5K that they coordinated and just last week to the Dinner & Dance (D&D).  We don't have these D&Ds in the US so we had no idea what to expect (I think this is their version of a Holiday Party).  All they told us was it is really just a dinner and no one dances, many people will dress to the theme, and its usually a lot of fun.

The theme this year was "The Godfather" and you were supposed to dress up to represent your favorite mafia or clan.  This was a learning experience for me because I was clueless on Asian gangsters.  The four that they highlighted in this event were:

• Paikia - Singaporean "bad kids"
• Mafia - We are all familiar with the Mafia although it was funny to see their interpretation of American gangsters
• Yakuza - An organized crime syndicate in Japan commonly identified by their tattoos
• Chinese Triads - One of the largest organized crime groups with currently over 250,000 active members worldwide.

We decided not to dress up as we had no idea how serious people were about this and gangster outfits were not on the list of things to pack when we left Houston.  Our going in expectation of this event was that there would be a couple hundred people that would sit down in a hotel ballroom, eat dinner while some mild entertainment went on, and then maybe some mingling post dinner.  This was far from how the event actually went!

Cocktail hour (if you can call it that since there was no alcohol) was held outside of the ballroom at the Marina Bay Sands.  While you sipped your soda or juice you could get your picture taken with one of the many backdrops and props, play lazer tag, get air brushed tattoos, or get your hair sprayed with some bright color or glitter.  Derek and I opted to get our picture taken a few times and did lots of people watching.

This is what happens when you
don't dress to theme!

I didn't get the memo that this was
a serious picture.

Some elaborate costumes

We noticed there were a lot of people arriving and they were all decked out to the theme.  This was about the time we realized this was a much bigger deal than we thought.  We proceded into the ballroom and noticed that there were seats for 1,300 people.  This was just the number of people they could fit in the venue as they had to turn people away that wanted to buy tickets.  It was shocking to us that there were 1,300 employees and spouses/significant others in Singapore that would get involved like this.  Our company has almost 10,000 employees in Houston and the recreation club there could never get 1,300 people to do anything so the turn out was very impressive.

HUGE ballroom

Dinner was served family style and our table opted for the Chinese meal.  I will admit that Derek and I were not crazy about the food and as you can see from my plate it wasn't always appetizing. Some of the menu highlights: baby octopus, marinated jellyfish, sliced abalone with sea cucumber, and steamed marble Goby (its a fish and it came with its head).  The meal was served in nine different courses and as we dined for four hours we were treated to some very interesting entertainment.

Hey Octopus!

They started off with a professional quality video about the different clan leaders (who were employees) which set the scene for the events that night.  The four leaders were gathering at the D&D to determine who would become the next Godfather.  Our table was in the Mafia section so as the night went on, the four clans competed in various events to earn points that would gain their leader the right to become the next Godfather.  It was creative, elaborate, and well executed. The attention to detail and level of involvement by so many people was mind blowing.

This is a video of the representatives from the four clans performing a little number, of course it was Gangnam Style again.

They had a professional emcee conduct the events and keep up the energy in the room.  It seemed like everyone was really enjoying themselves and we had a good time too.  There were a few peculiar things that happened that made us realize we were not in the US:

• Heaviest man competition - thankfully these guys volunteered
• They asked each clan to bring up the sexiest lady - nope, not awkward at all...
• Lightest woman competition - thank goodness there were two young girls there so the women did not have to be weighed right there on stage and their weight announced!
• If you were identified to have one of the best costumes you had to go on stage and do a dance medley - I think this is where the Dance in Dinner & Dance came in
• They asked all 1,300 people to come surround the stage, sing together, and clap their hands - and everyone actually did it
• Shoulder massage train - I can't make this up.  I had to take a picture to prove it.  Nothing like awkwardly massaging the shoulders of your coworkers.

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  I was too busy
rubbing Derek's shoulders.

Overall it was a great event and we can't wait to see what they do next year.  In the meantime, we have another D&D to get ready for that is being put on by Derek's organization in the company.  I think this time we will try to dress up to the "Pop Star" theme.

Temporary Living

Our first couple months in Singapore are spent in temporary housing until our stuff arrives from The States and we find a permanent place to live.  There are several full-service apartments around town and the one in which we chose to stay is the Orchard Scotts Residences.  It is just a street over from the hotel where I stayed on my business trip so it is nice to be in a familiar area.  We love the location because it is fairly quiet, close to an MRT, and just 1 km (yes I'm doing all metric these days) from Orchard Rd which is the shopping epicenter of this small country.

Living in a serviced apartment has its ups and downs so I'll share my likes and dislikes.

Like

• Cleaning service six days a week. They even do the dishes! Who wouldn't love this?
• Huge swimming pool and nice barbecue stations (they clean up after you there, too)
• Location 
• Rain shower
• Cleaning service. Yep, its so good I double liked it. 
• Being able to cook myself dinner and wash my own clothes.

Surprisingly there were no children in the pool at the time I took this.
It took longer than you would think to be able to take a picture that
wouldn't have naked Australian or European kids in it.

Dislike

• The uncomfortable furniture.  I miss my chaise lounge and Tempurpedic mattress!
• Kitchen equipment.  There are three dull knives and three pots/pans to cook with.  The gas stove is hard to control so my cooking usually involves lots of smoke and sometimes the fire alarm.  There is also an oven/microwave and I haven't really figured out how to use it as a microwave or an oven.
• Closet space is minimal so the second bedroom has been turned into our closet/storage room.
• They decided to do routine maintenance on the aircon (the term they use for A/C) in our apartment and had to turn it off for five days.  They gave us a different unit to sleep in but it was on the 3rd floor and ours is on the 10th floor.  Shuffling back and forth was annoying for us and confusing for Maddie.

Living Room

Uncomfortable king bed

Kitchen with the tiny oven/microwave

Undecided

• Washer/Dryer - the same machine that washes the clothes also dries them.  I like that I can just set it and go to work or go to bed and the laundry will be done when I get back. The bad part is it takes about five hours to do a load, which is only about four outfits, so I'm constantly doing laundry.

That is all I have for washing clothes.

Overall, life in temp living is good and we would rather be here than living in a hotel room.  We just can't wait to move to our new place!  Hurry up container ship!

National Orchid Garden

This weekend we ventured over to the Singapore Botanic Gardens to get some exercise and have brunch.  The Botanic Gardens are located near the center of Singapore and span 183 acres.  It is home to multiple lakes, an amphitheater, Ginger Garden, Healing Garden, Rainforest, Evolution Garden, Children's Garden, and the National Orchid Garden.  Entry is free to all of the Gardens excluding the Orchid Garden, and that is only $5 SG, so it is a great place to go for a walk and escape from the busy city life.

The Orchid Garden is a popular tourist attraction so with camera in hand, we headed over to take in all the beauty. I highly recommend a trip there if you ever get a chance!

One of the lakes in the Botanic Gardens. Everything is so lush and green.

Amphitheater in the Gardens.  We would love to come see an event here.

Entrance to the Orchid Garden

This picture reminds me of a preloaded computer background.

One of the many waterfalls along the path

Entrance to the Mist House

I couldn't resist

One of my favorites

After we left the Orchid Garden we walked through the Ginger Garden
and found these awesome lily pads

Waterfall in the Ginger Garden

This adventure convinced me that I have to try and grow some orchids when we move into our apartment.  Orchids are the national flower of Singapore so it only seems right.