The little things

I knew when I moved here it would be a challenge to find a new hairdresser and to find comfort foods and figure out the transportation. I never really thought about the little things. By little things, I mean figuring out where to buy common household items. If you need envelopes back home, you can find them at the grocery store, Target, or the corner pharmacy. Heck, I'm guessing you could probably even pick them up in a gas station. This is not the case in Singapore...

The grocery store sells groceries and things related to groceries like cleaning products and a few personal items such as deodorant and baby things. The pharmacy here sells prescriptions, vitamins, soap, make-up, etc. I haven't been to a gas station here but they look to sell gasoline and maybe a few snacks. None of these places sell envelopes.

It is not like Europe where paper products are sold at dedicated stationary stores. I actually haven't seen a stationary store here. The closest is a stationary department in one of the local chain bookstores. I didn't feel like walking that far nor did I feel like waiting in line at the post office...I know that may be a shock to everyone! Instead I opted to wander through a local shopping center to see if I could find someplace. I am glad I did because I found a new local bookstore and they had an entire selection of envelopes. They also had a nice selection of greeting cards which is a post for another day...

So today I am missing the convenience of the one-stop sells all type stores back in the US. On the other hand, I am thankful it is different here. I may not have ever wandered up another floor in the shopping center to find a local bookstore only about 2 blocks from my house.