Sunday was such a beautiful day here in NC. Sunny and in the 60s...can't ask for too much better than that in February. It was the perfect day for some yard work, some house cleaning, and to clean the garage. To many of you this may sound like tedious work but for me it was awesome. Remember, I don't have a yard or a garage in Singers...this is my yard...sort of...
I took a long nap today...probably should not have but I really needed it after a delayed flight from Newark to RDU last night. And honestly, sometimes sleep is just the best thing in the world. Especially when you fall asleep to the US men's curling team beating Sweden...then wake up randomly to hear a great back and forth hockey game between Switerland and Norway...Switzerland won.
I finally got myself out of bed only to turn on the Olympics on the television in the living room. I love, love, love to watch the Olympics. Athletes representing their countries...at the highest level of their sports...and the sad thing is that this, for many, is their only time to shine in front of the country. Regardless, it is always amazing to see and I love to watch them.
Men's short track speed skating in on right now. It reminds me of my time in South Korea when I was wandering around one of the local malls one day and there was an indoor ice rink. Instead of a lot of figure skating wannabes there were about 20 kids (ages 3-4 up to 12-13) with coaches learning how to speed skate. I had never seen speed skating training before...I have no idea where most of the US speed skaters hail from...I've been in many ice rinks in my day and it has mostly been to see figure skating or hockey or to just play around at an open skate session...have never once seen a speed skater.
I stood at that rink watching the kids for a good 30 minutes. It was a tough training for kids of that age but the kids were just as serious about it as the coaches. Sitting and watching the short track speed skating now it sort of closes a loop for me...there are three incredibly strong South Korean skaters who are now in the semi-finals. I have a soft spot for South Korea since I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Don't get me wrong...I want the US to win...I want to hear the US National Anthem being played during the medal ceremony.
In the meantime, I'll wait about 10-15 years and wonder if any of the South Korean kids I watched that day will make it to the Olympics...I sure hope they do...and I sure hope that some amazing US skater beats them to gold.
Am just about to lock up my luggage and head to the airport. Am heading from Singapore to Newark and then from Newark to RDU. I should be home by about 11pm tonight. I think I have everything in order at the apartment to be away for a few months. I also think I have everything I need to entertain myself on the looong flight home.
Next post from the US...
Seems like just yesterday I arrived in Singers and now I am packing for my return flight to the US tomorrow. It has been a crazy, busy couple of weeks but in a good way. I've been able to accomplish quite a bit at work and have also been able to settle things with the apartment. I still have some work to do tomorrow morning before I head out...always seems to be work to do...but I also have the 18 hour flight to get some things done.
Am off to bed for some sleep...more before I head out.
I just returned home from dropping Alan and Tom at the airport. I cannot believe they are already gone...seems like they just arrived!
It was a great visit and was nice to have somebody other than myself in the apartment and to wander around with. They did tons more sight-seeing than me but by the blog posts this past week you'll have seen that they were great at getting me out and about as well. I haven't been in Singapore too terribly much and when I am here I tend to just hang out at home catching up over the weekend...so not a lot of sight-seeing has been done on my own. This was a nice change of pace.
It was also just great to have people to hang out with after coming home from work...or to get up in the morning and share a cup of coffee with somebody...or to actually go out for a meal instead of eating a peanut butter sandwich in front of the computer or television...although...don't get me wrong, I love a good peanut butter sandwich. Yum!
I also think it is fun that Alan now knows what my apartment looks like. I always think it is better to have the proper picture in your head when you are talking about something or someplace that you have been. That may sound a little odd but I enjoy a book so much more if I have actually been to the location of the scene they are describing (ex - standing under the Eiffel Tower). The same goes with being in homes or knowing a neighborhood.
I now have two crazy insane days at the office before I head back on Friday. It is going to be tiring but at least I know that on Friday I'll have a nice 18 hour flight to catch-up on any sleep I may miss.
or so we thought...
I have this odd fascination with weird signs. You may recall I did a blog posting from Seoul about signs in their city. Anytime I see a sign that I think is interesting I'll usually try and get a picture of it. There are tons of new (to me) signs in Asia so I have fun with this. Here are a few from the past two days at the Singapore Zoo and from today during our hike around MacRitchie Reservoir...most are warning signs meant to keep you safe or out of trouble.
Do not slip and fall onto your bum on this little slope here...
Happy Chinese New Year! It is the year of the lao hu or tiger. Here are some of the pictures of tigers that I have taken in the past couple of days...
Woohoo! It is the zhou mo! (That means weekend by the way.)
It was a long and busy week at the office. Not a bad one, but one with lots to do and still a lot left on my to-do list before I head back to the US next week. Monday and Tuesday are official holidays here in Singapore but I'll be working on Tuesday. But...I have a 3-day weekend ahead of me with two houseguests to help me find things to do. Should be fun exploring and I'll keep you posted on what we do.
This evening we went to Lau Pa Sat which is one of the oldest hawker stalls in Singapore. It is also the best place to get satay or meat on a stick. They close down one of the roads at 7pm and put out tables and chairs and grill meat...beef, chicken, mutton, duck, shrimp...you name it they have it...and put it on a stick and serve it to you. The official food is called satay, however, we like to simply call it meat on a stick. If you ever make it to Singapore then Lau Pa Sat is a must as is meat on a stick.
It is also one of the cheapest places to get draft beer. The local pijiu or beer is Tiger beer and these sweet ladies come to your table and ask "jug of Tiger beer?" Well, how does one properly say no to that question.
We had a great dinner but since I have to head to work in the morning I am back at home relaxing a bit before heading to bed. Should I be worried that I left Alan and Tom with a half empty jug of Tiger beer???
Or...in other words...happy birthday to my brother Jeff!
I think that I really lucked out in the sibling category as I have two great brothers. With Jeff and I being closer in age we had our moments as kids where we likely got on each others nerves...heck...I'm sure we could even do that now...but we also had plenty of laughter and fun so overall, he's a pretty awesome brother to have. He's definitely a good brother, but also a great husband & father, and a good son.
Tonight we met up with some of my local friends for dinner. We opted to eat at a Taiwanese dumpling (xiaolongbao) place in honor of Chinese New Year. Leading up to it, Jen and Sonya touted this place as having the best dumplings in the entire universe. Not just Singapore, not Asia, not in the world...but instead in the entire universe. Sheesh! Those are some pretty big pieces of dough to fill if we are going to be the best in the entire universe.
Jen and Sonya did not disappoint. We had pork dumplings, pork & shrimp dumplings, and pork & crabmeat dumplings...all of which were incredibly tasty. We also shared some fried rice, however, it isn't just the greasy version we are used to in US Chinese restaurants. Instead, this was fresh white rice with lots of egg and onion for flavor. A very nice compliment to the dumplings. Especially when a little of the dumpling juice escaped from it and fell onto the rice. All of it was very tasty. And it was the type of meal where we all shared food...I love that...it makes for conversation about the food but then leads into other discussions. We even ended up with a bit of a challenge for Jen...can she eat 50 pork dumplings in less than 30 minutes? We'll have to wait and see...
For me it was nice to have a little of my life here meet some of my life from the US. It was a pretty quick meal but we talked a lot, ate a lot, and laughed a lot...all good things in my book. My west and my east have now sort of met each other...kinda cool!
Oh! And we got two free Valentines Day cakes...they are chocolate...shaped like hearts...and they were free...
This morning I was awake bright and early to head to the airport. Although this time I didn't have any luggage to take and didn't need to check-in or pass through customs. Instead I just had to wait in the arrivals hall...
Alan and our friend Tom arrived this morning. YIPEE!!! My first visitors! I had to go to work but they spent the day wandering around and trying to stay awake.
YIPEE! House guests!
Last night I met my friends for dinner and drinks. We went to a place in Singapore that I have not been previously...I've driven by it a bunch of times but never made it there. Chijmes is a former convent from the 1850s that they have renovated and now houses shops and restaurants. It is a pretty amazing building and I love that they are using the space instead of tearing it down and putting up a modern building.
In honor of the upcoming Chinese New Year I thought I'd continue with the blog titles in Chinese. I'll get to what it translates to in a moment.
The jet lag is still hanging around. I woke up at 3:45 am but opted to stay in bed today and slept on and off until about 6:30 am. A little early for a Saturday morning...but considering this is two hours of additional sleep from yesterday I think I am starting to even up with the jetlag...I'd say we are tied right now.
I ran some errands this afternoon in preparation of Alan and Tom coming in on Monday morning. Oh...may have not mentioned that previously....Alan and our good friend Tom are coming for a visit and arrive on Monday morning. We had planned the trip last summer so I'm glad that I'm able to be here with them. Anyway...I topped up my spare bus/MRT card for Alan and bought a second for Tom. I also went in search of a prepaid mobile phone so they can contact me or call for a taxi when they are in town. I figure I'll have some additional guests...hint...hint...so wanted to purchase the phone so I can then just buy the minutes as I need them.
Singtel is one of two mobile service providers on the island. My company phone is through them so I know they are pretty reliable and quite frankly, they had the best deal. To be fair, the other mobile provider told me it wasn't worth my money because they didn't have any inexpensive phones...appreciate the honesty. So, in addition to the phone and sim card I got a couple of goodies because it is Chinese New Year.
Meet Li-Li and Yuan:
Just a bit of a jetlag tip for you. When you wake up at 4:30 am the day after you've flown half way around the world and decide it would be a good idea to put the brand new mattress pad on your bed...but then decide to wash it first...as one should...but then get side tracked because it is the second load of laundry of the morning so you just leave it in the washer to dry after work...and then you end up working an entire day at the office...and then agree to go out for drinks with a friend after work...
Well, just don't do it...because then when you get home and want to go to bed quickly...you cannot.
Jetlag - 1
Kate - 0
I arrived back in Singapore this morning around 7am local time. I was lucky enough to be on the direct flight from Newark to Singapore but it is 18 hours and I don't care how much you fly...18 hours is just entirely too long to be on a plane. I did get some decent sleep and watched a couple of movies...nothing great though - seems to be a bad movie month.
I had a very nice welcome home thanks to a couple of my local friends. They had my apartment cleaned while I was gone (freshly washed sheets and towels too) and also stocked my fridge with the essentials...bread, milk, eggs, fruit, etc. It was such a nice surprise and made for an easy morning arriving back here.
I have not yet unpacked all of my goodies that I brought with me. They are still sitting in the suitcases in the middle of my dining area. I purposely leave them in the middle of my way so that I end up forcing myself to unpack them...hopefully sooner rather than later.
I made it to the office for a bit and have forced myself to stay awake until 7pm...for some reason that was my goal today. So, I can safely say that I will be zonking out shortly for what I hope (fingers crossed) is a long and uninterrupted night of sleep.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................
to go home...to the other home...
I've spent some time the past couple of days organizing things for my return trip to Singapore. It is odd to pack to go to a second home. I don't really have too many clothes to pack since the temperatures have been so different. I mostly have a bunch of things that I either can't get in Singapore or that are too expensive in Singapore:
