Merlion symbol of Singapore

Monday, April 11, 2011

Arrival in Singapore

After weeks of planning and packing I've finally arrived in Singapore. It hasn't settled in that I'm not on vacation; this really will be my home for the next two years. I had barely arrived at our temporary housing apartment when I got the call that my pick-up for the car rental had arrived-they were 20 minutes early and I hadn't even gotten a shower or food. They took me to the other end of the island to meet up with Bob and look at cars. We had opted for a small SUV so we could carry bikes or people and had a choice of a Toyota RAV4, Kia Song or Honda CR-V. After sitting in each of them and doing a quick three minute drive we decided on the CR-V. It is beige and the other two were black and it seemed a little roomier. I've never chosen a car so quickly. Luckily it won't be ready until next Friday as I don't think I will be ready to drive on the wrong side of the road until then. At least they give the expats automatic cars, I was expecting a stick shift and that is one more thing to deal with.

Today we went to the convention center for a home show to look at furniture. We did not bring over a dining room table and I had hoped to get a sofa bed for one of the guest rooms. We didn't see any furniture of interest and had to walk through the electronics section to get back out-big mistake. As none of our stuff will work in Singapore we need a new TV, DVD player, etc. After listening to several spiels Bob couldn't pass up a 42" TV, something that we would never have had in Los Gatos. The bargain price even included a trolley; okay, sure. We discovered that you went to the back of the showroom along with everyone else making a purchase to pick-up your goods. The furniture is delivered, but the electronics goods are cash and carry. The trolley turned out to be a luggage cart which allowed you to roll your huge box out of the convention center. So here we are, foreigners looking totally out of place trying to haul a big box through the middle of a packed trade show to the exit on the other side. We finally made it out only to discover that the only way to fit in an elevator going down was to first take it up to the top floor and then back down again. Of course we don't have our car yet, so we stood in the taxi line; having taken the bus to get there and deciding that wouldn't be a good option for getting the TV back home. Luckily a beat up taxi was turned down by the woman in front of us, so we loaded the box into the back seat and I was able to scrunch in behind it. We hauled it into the apartment where it sits with all the other boxes ready to go to the new house next weekend. 

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