Leading to Jesus' and Michael's birthdays

This week was very wet and rather cold, probably 25 C rather than the normal 30 C ;-). Unusual weather for Singapore, maybe the typhoon over the Philippines brought the rather constant rain? Sidewalks and roads flooded and even one part of Orchard Road despite flood barriers, the shops there lost stock. But it was nothing compared to the flooding in Brisbane we experienced in the beginning of the year. Bukit Timah Road is a three to four lane road going from East to West, then there is a canal to channel the flood waters and the other side is called Dunearn Road and just the opposite of Bukit Timah Road (i.e. three to four lanes going West to East). There are lots of bridges for pedestrians to cross those busy roads, mainly to connect the bus stops. Those canals carried quite a bit of water during this week ...

Also the pool felt colder. We are surprised anyhow how cold the pool is compared to our pool back home, which heats up nicely in summer. Maybe due to the rain season the almost daily rain shower cools down the pool? Or maybe the blue sky in Queensland heats up the pool quicker? We'll see in a few weeks when the rain season comes to an end. Another interesting observation is: Despite the humidity, the food, as well as water bottles, don't mould as quickly as in Brisbane during the summer heat and humidity. Nevertheless we keep the bread in the fridge, just to be safe.

Due to the rather constant rain this week our outings were limited to shopping (groceries). On Saturday we picked up our turkey at the supermarket. David and Katrin decided to take the bus to the post office to get a few stamps. It's a similar system here as in Australia leading up to Christmas, letters cost only half price. So we tried to get the right stamps to post a handful of letters to Europe to our families. A few weeks ago on the way to Michael's and Esther's school we found this post office (they are not necessarily in the shopping centres) and bought some stamps. After we finished writing the cards, Katrin hunted for those stamps and couldn't find them. She even feared they had been thrown out because they were in a postage brochure. So another trip to the post office was necessary to send those letters off. It started to rain steadily, but it wasn't too bad without an umbrella, the rain was warm, the climate is warm. Even the shopping centres (post office for that) weren't too cooled down to freeze us. By the way at the check out of one of the supermarkets there is a freezer with little bags filled with ice cubes to keep your shopping cold - complimentary. In the turkey cooler bag was also a little bag with ice - nitrogen ice cube, Jonas enjoyed playing around with it!

Esther was very busy those past weeks sewing artworks for the family. She mainly used felt and made a bag for Michael, a Christmas stocking for Jonas, two animals for the other boys, a snowman for Karsten and Katrin got a pin cushion.

On Christmas Eve we have our tradition:
A rather quick and child friendly dinner (hot dog sausages with salad) starts the evening. Then Karsten reads from the Bible:

Every year we can find an eyeopener: This year we contemplated how God chose the shepherds to tell the most exciting news. Shepherds were on the lowest society rank, their witness wasn't even worthy in a court case. Yet they were willing and available to come and worship Jesus, that is still required today: Availability and openness.

And isn't it interesting that God sent his angels to the shepherds, and not to the political or religious leaders ? What does this tell us about leadership? It starts at the bottom.

Isn't it interesting that despite all those time reducing household gadgets we have less time to be spontaneous or have our plans changed. Children are a great "tool" to help learn this lesson ;-)
We also like to sing a few carols (there is a helpful app: "Carols" it has not only the lyrics but also supplies the music a-cappella).






Then we open our presents:

It is very interesting to look at a globe and see what lies on the same longitude. Singapore is almost exactly on the equator, like Egypt and Peru for example. If you look up what would be the equivalent of Brisbane in the Northern Hemisphere it would be Hawaii for example.




Boxing Day was Michael's birthday - wow 11 years old!

We went to Marina Bay Sands Shoppes, a very new shopping mall opposite the fancy Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The centre offers lots of exclusive shops as well as exhibitions. At the moment there is a Narnia Exhibition, we weren't allowed to take picture in the exhibition, but while we had lunch we took a picture of David and Yannic with the exhibition in the background ;-) There was quite a lot to look at and videos explaining how the movies were shot. Also some original props from the movies.

For dessert we went to Cold Rock and enjoyed yummy ice cream.

Our Fifth Week

On Monday we went to Jonas' school, we literally walked, well, the children took their scooters (another blessing from the sea freight) while Jonas and Katrin walked. We kept the book-uniform-shop-conveyor busy, firstly Jonas and then Michael and Esther got their uniforms, then we went through the stationary list for Jonas, Michael and Esther will have their stationary pack given by the school, all ready to go. After that  we went to the library to collect Jonas' text books and finally we looked for his class teacher, Herr Maier. He gave Jonas two Spanish CDs to start practicing ;-) By this time everybody was hungry, so we had lunch at the canteen, the little ones went for Pasta Bolognese (which was spicy and a lot of water/cordial was consumed) and the older ones (Michael, Jonas and Katrin) had sandwiches (not spicy). There were also Laugenbrezel available, a typical Southern German bread type. Jonas chewed on those as a baby/toddler all those years back and whenever we go back to Germany, the children love to eat them.
Coming home we hopped into the pool to cool down.

Tuesday Esther, David, Yannic and Katrin went to the primary school by bus. The teachers wanted to assess Esther, an hour later she came out with flying colours. Meanwhile David, Yannic and Katrin browsed through the library, sitting happily in air conditioning. How did people study and live here without any air conditioning comfort?

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet days, pool, games and reading the newspaper. Every morning there is a free newspaper at our door step (the cleaner crew deliver them to every unit). The articles are well written and informative, lots of political news (especially the Euro crisis) and then also focusing South East Asia. Very tempting for Katrin to lie on the sofa and read ;-) Slowly we start to recognise the names of the Asian leaders, at least which country they belong to.

Friday we went to see the baby again, it weighs now 2.7kg and Katrin is quite happy that the weight gain isn't too fast ;-)

Saturday had heavy rain in the afternoon, so we decided to postpone our outing to Jurong Bird Park.

Our Fourth Week

On Monday we visited the obstetrician again. We saw Buzzelchen again on the ultrasound and all seems to be fine. Buzzelchen presently weighs 2.5kg.

On Tuesday we visited the children's schools, German European School Singapore, it has two German and two English speaking classes at each level. Jonas, Michael and Esther will go to the same school, but to two different campuses: The kindy and high school campus (from Y6 upwards) which Jonas will attend, is 2 km North from where we live. However, the Y1-Y5 campus which Esther and Michael will be visiting, is 20 min West by bus from us. So Michael and Esther will be able to comfortably take the bus from almost in front of our condominium and alight (the official Singaporean word for getting off) in front of their school without transfers and it only costs 0.73 cents one way. They can use 4 different buses, which all leave very regularly, no long waiting times. Jonas will most likely take his bike. The way is mostly flat, just at the end it goes a bit uphill.The primary school campus is very new,  the school only moved there 2 years ago. The children love the libraries at both schools, I guess the children will be very frequent visitors there.

Jonas' class will be 10a, this year they have started with Spanish, so Jonas has a bit catch up to do. There are 16 students in his class, most of them native German speakers, we heard a lot of German being spoken while we walked around the school.
There is a canteen there too, and the children have the choice between three (high school campus) and two (primary school campus) main meals, one is Western, one Eastern and one Vegetarian. The children have a student ID card which can be used as "credit card" at the school canteen, which is open all the time.
The school uniform is green t-shirt and black short/pants/shirt as the formal uniform and white t-shirt with the school logo printed on and black sport shorts. Hat, bag and shoes are up to each person's liking, Australian schools are much stricter. German schools normally have no uniform at all, so for those expats it's quite a change and therefore the school is a bit more lenient. We'll have to come back next week to buy the uniforms, books and stationary, there was no time today.
All in all the school reminded Karsten and Katrin a lot of their own schooling, it's somehow very German, especially looking at the text books. Most of the staff is from Germany. Hopefully the children will come back to Australia with much improved German and maybe a better Mandarin too. But that is not taught at school, rather everyday life, maybe a tutor would be a good idea.

Wednesday was another exciting day: Our sea freight arrived. Finally Esther has her own bed again. Lots of Lego came as well. We have now all the baby stuff here (pram, baby capsule and cot). Esther is also very glad to have Katrin's sewing machine for all those projects. Some books were unpacked. Most unpacking happened on Wednesday and Thursday. Now there are lots of boxes for more nests or other buildings. Two boxes serve as makeshift book shelves:

On Thursday we went to the library again, all by bus. Since the library is in a mall (Clementi Mall) we also stocked up on groceries, a bit more than we could comfortable carry on the bus. It had started to rain, too, so we waited at the taxi stand for a little while only. Instead of cramping everybody in one taxi, the older three and Noah went by taxi and Katrin, David and Yannic took the bus back home. They arrived only 15 minutes after the taxi. At first it was a scary thought to leave Jonas, Michael, Esther and Noah in the taxi all by themselves, but Singapore is very safe and Jonas knows where to go.

After a busy start to the week, the remainder was stay at home and enjoy the pool and the new-old toys.
Katrin started to browse through the online shopping of the two supermarkets close by. Delivery costs are $7 and if she goes by herself and takes a taxi back it costs almost as much. Most of the grocery items are available online, but although one doesn't get to choose the items, the quality is fine. Usually if ordered before lunch, delivery is made the next afternoon (between 2pm and 6pm) or evening (between 6pm and 9pm). And since it is being carried right into the kitchen it's very convenient.

Back home in Australia school has wrapped up for the year, so the children are now officially on holidays ;-)

Saturday we stayed home assembling Esther's bed and the cot. Esther made cupcakes and did some more sewing, she is very industrious.

Our Third Week

Our third week started with a visit of Karsten's colleague Wasim for dinner. It's nice to have a familiar face visiting, even for only a short time. The next morning, Dorotee and Henrik with their children Tim and Kiara visited us briefly during their 8 hour stop over. Boy, was that an early breakfast, but so much fun! We had set the alarm clock for 6:45am which we thought would give us enough time to get presentable and also breakfast on the table. Katrin woke up earlier - pit stop as usual - and thought she heard something. Well, sure enough our friends were already at our door step! Luckily friends are those people you can greet in your pyjamas and they don't mind ;-) After breakfast we had a swim together and then they were off again. What a blessing to have friends visiting!

That day proved to be a busy one. Not that long after the Maier-Braun family had left a friend of friends rang to see if she could come over to introduce herself before they flew out that night to holiday in Japan. A little while later the buzzer buzzed.

Level 1: lift entrance to our section

Under the non smoking sign is the swipe card terminal

A quick explanation: To get in you need to have a swipe card at the gate either on level 1 - to get into one of the courts of this condominium - or in the carpark (B1) to get into the lift. In the carpark there are a handful of lobbies which have lifts for each 'tower' of the court. Lobby 4 of Chempaka Court (= 991 Bukit Timah Road) leads to our unit, just take the lift to level 7. There are 4 units on each level. One day on our way back from the pool Yannic and Noah ran ahead to the lifts and pressed 7 and stood in the door to keep it waiting for the rest of us. When the rest got closer we called them away from the lift, after all it's not a toy, so Yannic came running leaving Noah in the lift. The door closed and off he went. We were a bit in a frenzy then. Karsten and the children took the other lift up while Katrin waited on Level 1 in case Noah came down again. They must have pressed 4 too, because Katrin could hear Noah cry when the lift stopped at Level 4. There is a display next to the lift to show where the lift currently is and if it's going up or down. That stop gave the other lift with Karsten time to catch up, so when both lifts reached level 7 Karsten could "rescue" Noah, who was not a happy camper. In hindsight is't quite funny, but when the lift disappeared with Noah, we got a big fright, all kinds of what... if scenarios crossed our minds. That all happened after Katrin had told the children to wait sitting on the little garden wall opposite the lifts until everybody is there - Katrin isn't the fastest at the moment ;-) How often tells God us the same things over and over and still we don't learn the lesson by listening but by experience?!

View from our unit towards the lifts

View from the lifts to our door

Back to our visitor that Tuesday: After answering the buzzer, Katrin waited at the door for the visitor to step out of the lift. But out came Shirley, the landlord's manager, whom we hadn't expected. It's quite funny if you wait for somebody and suddenly somebody else comes, Katrin was glad that she had met Shirley before otherwise it would have been interesting to see how they would have solved the misunderstanding. Shirley had a few questions. And a few minutes later our visitor arrived: Beng-Wan with her children Chloe and Jared. She offered to take us to the public library the same day and to show us a wet market once she is back. So at 2 o'clock off we went all squeezed in one car, Katrin thought Being-Wan had a van or so, but it was a normal Sedan. So 6 children squeezed in the back seat and Katrin had a front row seat ;-)
At the library we got one library card, which costs over $50 since we are not citizen nor residents but foreigners. On one card we can borrow 8 books, but at the moment due to the holidays they have extended it to 12 books. Those of you who know our little bookworms can imagine how quickly we might have to go back to the library. They all love to read. We took a taxi to get back home - same method; 6 children in the back seat and Katrin in the passenger seat, the poor taxi driver didn't have time nor words to object. But Katrin was glad when they got home safe and sound, we won't be doing that too often.

Noah and bounty from the library

Yannic's nest

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet stay at home days for 7 family members and go to work for one (guess who). We read the books, hopped into the pool and played computer. Friday Karsten was able to work from home, a treat after a few long days at work (ups, I told you now). The air conditioning units (we have 6 units in our 4 bedroom appartment) were serviced. This has to be done every 3 months apparently since they are being used rather frequently.

Singapore during the rain season is very humid, as throughout most of the year :-). That is the reason for not having fly screens despite Mozzies and the possibility of Dengue Fever: Moss would quickly grow on the fly screens. A lady told me that her mattress moulded and only when it came through the fitted sheet, she realised what was happening - she has been here one year so far. Somebody else told Karsten, that his leather jacket got ruined just sitting in the wardrobe for a few weeks. That's why it is helpful to let the air conditioner run every day. ;-) And it's also advisable to dry clean suits which aren't used for a while. The washing is drying very slowly since there is not always a breeze. Although the breeze seems to pick up shortly before a big thunderstorm comes through.

Saturday we made a trip to Sentosa Island again - iFly! All except the oldest and youngest member of our family had a go, well, three goes in the wind chamber at flying. Noah and Katrin could watch them from the outside. IFly is the world's first largest themed wind tunnel for indoor skydiving and the world's largest vertical wind tunnel. The chamber is 16.5 feet (5 m) wide and 56.5 feet (17m) tall - about 5 storeys high - with a 18 feet (5,5m) tall acrylic glass wall with view over the South China Sea. It was very comfortable inside in air conditioning almost cold.

Unfortunately we weren't allow to take pictures of the actual flying, some people did nevertheless. So we just have a couple of pre-flight pictures.

The afternoon was spent at the beach much to Noah's delight, he loves the sand and the water.

Michael, Esther, David and Yannic went exploring, across a small channel of water was a little island like sandbank where they climbed on the rocks until the life guard ask us to get them off since it's dangerously slippery.

Our time at the beach was cut short due to the seasonal thunderstorm. So we found a bar and had satay sticks for a late afternoon tea or early dinner. Those sticks were yummy and Karsten was going back a few times to order more for the hungry family.
We stopped at a water play and Noah decided he was still hungry. Hasn't he got a big bite?!

On our way home there was a long queue at the taxi stand, so we took the monorail out of Sentosa, boarded the MRT (Mass Rapid Transportation, an underground train) and then the bus to get home. Almost exactly the same way Karsten commutes to and from work. The children enjoyed it, but we all were rather tired by the time we go home.

Sunday we went back to the Methodist Church around the corner, we received again a warm welcome. The children went to Junior Church/Sunday School. First all the children have a worship/singing time together before they break up into small groups for the teaching and some arts and crafts. Jonas' Senior Church was not on, it's only three times per month, so that the teenagers can participate at communion. The sermon taught about Mary, about our plans and God's plans. Also after her response came the action: "Be unto me according to Your word". And how Mary was wise to turn to an older person (Elisabeth) for guidance and purpose. Mentors are in!

Our second week

Tuesday to Friday was work for Karsten and getting used to Maplewoods for the rest of the family. After Karsten left for work, we hopped into the pool and played on the computer or board games: Uno spin or Autoquartett, a typical German card game. The cards contain the same criteria for each car. All the cards get dealt and hold in a stack. The first person choose one criteria from the card at the top of his stackand hopes to win the other players' top cards through either having the lightest car, the fastest or the biggest etc.

We then had lunch at the cafe next to the pool. The children picked pizza and hot dogs, Katrin had vegetarian mee goreng, a spicy fried noodle and vegetable dish, very tasty. There is also a convenience shop, very small, but with the same prices as the supermarkets. It is open to 9pm, but closed on Mondays. For a quick top up it's great. The size of the whole shop is no bigger than our living room (without the kitchen and dining area). Soon Katrin won't be able to fit in :-)

Here is a picture from the pool area towards our unit. Since the building has 10 levels and we are on level 7, you'll be able to count down from the top to our level. Our unit is on the left hand side of the building, two windows are visible (master bedroom and Esther, David, Yannic and Noah's bedroom), in the nook is another window (Jonas and Michael's bedroom). The rest of the unit faces to the left towards a girl school. The scaffolded building on the very left is part of Coral Court (989 Bukit Timah Road), it's being repainted at the moment. There are three more courts around the pool and all five make up Maplewoods Condominium, but have different street numbers.

Around the pool it's very green, There are three frangipani tree which have different orchids grafted into them.

Friday, 25.11.

 Today was the big day of brain surgery to be performed by Prof. Dr. K. S. on patient D. S.  Or in other words: David's stitches were to come out.








So after work Karsten gathered the supplies and trusted assistant Jonas:

and set to work:

It didn't take long at all and we didn't need to handcuff the patient, he was exceptionally cooperative! Nurse Jonas was a great asset. Karsten enjoys being the medical wizard and said so. To which David replied: "When you are grown up, Papa, you could become a doctor." Oh, from the lips of little ones!! ;-)
So, tomorrow is the big back to pool day for David!






Saturday, 26.11.

Saturday was a busy day. First Jonas and Katrin went shopping, which was a bad idea - everybody was out shopping! First we went to check out "Cold Storage", very similar to Woolworth in having the same slogan: Fresh food people. It has a great variety and lots of Australian/European brands, but also quite dear. They got a mega pack "Merci" chocolate there - which lasted for one and half afternoon teas ;-)
Across the road is a shopping centre which has another supermarket chain "Fair price", the price is a bit less expensive, but still 2 l milk for nearly S$6 is a lot. They have 10 eggs in a carton or 30, we bought twice the 30 egg carton, don't want to go shopping daily ;-) It is interesting to find a lot of American products here, next to European and Australian. The plums are from the US and not too dear, the orange juice is from Florida and with S$8-9 per 2 l very dear. One of those days we will try to hit the wet markets, where local products are sold, especially vegetables, meat and spice.
After an exhausting run through the shop, just too many people everywhere, Jonas and Katrin got outside to catch a taxi at the taxi stand. Well, obviously if there are many people inside the shop there will be quite a few outside as well... So they waited for at least 30 min and got more and more frustrated. The Asian people just waited patiently and helped each other putting the groceries into the taxi or taking the trolleys back etc, whereas mainly the European ordered taxis privately and so jumped the queue. This added to the frustration, since they saw taxis coming, but then somebody from behind took it since they ordered it. Katrin decided to ring the heavenly help line (Psalm 50:15 "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you will honour Me."). Jonas was feeling the heat since his Glandular Fever had a new boost and Katrin felt the heat as well. So in the next 10 min the four people ahead of them found a taxi as well as they did. Boy, did it feel good to sit in air conditioning and being driven home. It is just a short way (10 - 15 min by foot), but with a trolley full of groceries, they couldn't have carried it back. What a privilege to own a car!
Meanwhile the other had a great time in the pool:

SAP had a Family Fun Day planned from 4pm onwards on Sentosa Island, an island on the Southern tip of Singapore.
Here is a great map:
http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=singapore+maps&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x31da11238a8b9375:0x887869cf52abf5c4,Singapore&ei=EzvSTsbxDISIrAeTz5H1Bg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CDgQ8gEwAA
Singapore is an island connected with Malaysia through two bridges and there are discussions to build a third bridge or a tunnel.
Back to the Family Fun Day: After much needed rest by some family members it was about time to call two taxis to get to Sentosa. And the rain started, when we looked at the forecast there were thunder storms predicted for the whole afternoon all over Singapore - it's monsoon season! Since the rain was very heavy combine with thunder we were wondering if the whole fun wouldn't be spoiled. We decided to give it a go. But then we had to wait for almost 30 min before we could book one taxi - obvious due to the heavy rain and weekend.... During the week Karsten found it hard to call a taxi between 7 and 9am and after 5pm, so he started to use bus and MRT (Mass Rapid Transport - train), which costs half but takes double the time. If you add the waiting time for a taxi during rush hour (once he waited for more than 30 min.) the public transport method is faster.
So back to the story: We had one taxi when it arrived we had a booking for the second. The first taxi driver wasn't 100% sure where on Sentosa we wanted to go, so he happily waited for the second taxi to come and follow it, he didn't even charge us for the 10 min waiting time.
The Wave House was teeming with people despite the unstable weather. There was kite making, sand bottle filling, colouring in competition and other activities for the children. But there was also - Wave House! - two pools with manmade waves where people could test their surf boarding skills. A third pool was reserved for Zorb. One person hops into a plastic deflated ball which once closed and sealed gets inflated and then into the water. Even Noah did it and had lots of fun.

Jonas was still not feeling a 100% so he declined to do any of the water activities, but had a go at Laser Skirmish where team 'Nano' as we called us achieved a 4th place in the overall competition.

After an exciting afternoon we got home around 9pm.


Sunday, 27.11.

Getting up after such an eventful day was a bit slower, nevertheless we decided to go to church even if we were late (9:25 for a 9am start), but we weren't the only ones coming late, in fact some were even much later than we. The church we picked today is just around the corner in a Methodist's girl school, yes it's a Methodist church ;-) We were warmly welcomed. I guess partly due to being European in a mainly Asian congregation and partly due to having a few more children than the standard 1-2 children here and also due to Asian hospitality! We enjoyed worshipping with fellow believers and decided to come back next Sunday so the children can go to Sunday School and Jonas join the youth service, which all takes place at the same time. It'll be good for Jonas to meet older teenagers, the youth service is attended by 13 to 18 year olds. Many people told us that it is holiday time now, so quite a few people will be going away.

Our First Week

Our Singapore Adventure

Monday and Tuesday were days of packing and wondering if we need more suitcases or will it fit? It did fit!

On Tuesday we had some unplanned surprises:

1. David and Yannic were collecting rocks out of the pool when David came up out of the water at the same time when Yannic jumped in. As in the egg contest one head had to give way: David’s in this case. Thank God he didn’t faint and Karsten was right next to them. So  we tried to steri-strip the wound ourselves, but in the end Karsten took him to our GP. It was around 10:30am. We planned to leave shortly after 11am to have enough time at the airport etc. Well they came back after 4 stitches (5cm long cut) at around11am and we packed the car and drove to our friend Karen, who had offered to drive us to the airport. After a little traffic jam on Centenary Highway we arrived at the airport. We didn’t had to queue and then another shock awaited us: 
2. The airline wanted a written certificate that I was able to fly. We told them that their website didn’t state this and therefore we didn’t have it (Karsten had checked as did my GP). To no avail. So I rang our GP, I knew that my regular GP wouldn’t be in, but maybe the other lady we have been seen so regularly lately. She was not in because she had gone to the Forest Lake branch. I was transferred there but she didn’t start till 2pm... So back to the Jindalee branch to see if any other doctor could fax that certificate. By then Karsten had the brainwave to ring our obstetrician who had seen me with David, Yannic and Noah and at 20weeks with this pregnancy. He quickly faxed the certificate and off we went. I haven’t heard if the airlines’ fax machine broke down that afternoon with all those certificates coming in.....

The flight itself was pretty normal, the children watched a few movies, ate and slept. We arrived around 8pm Singapore time (10pm back home), went through passport control which had to be: Jonas on his own, I with Esther and Michael and then at the next checkpoint Karsten with the three youngest. I had the impression the officer who looked after the proper line up was a bit overwhelmed with our numbers ;-)

Our suitcases arrived very quickly, thankfully most of the passengers must have travelled on, there were hardly any people around us. 

The taxi fitted all the suitcases and us, most seat belts didn’t work, I sat at the door and was glad that mine was the only proper one in case the door should swing open.... At the apartment complex Arthur was waiting and showed us our new home explaining a few things and taking Karsten shopping at 10pm in the night - another blessing! For those of you who saw Karate Kid (the most recent version) you will be familiar with the switch for hot water. The kitchen and two of our four bathrooms have such a switch. Apparently there is a small water tank above every unit or bathroom/kitchen and with that switch the heater goes on after a around 5-10 min. hot (really hot) water comes out of the “hot” tap. Poor Jonas was taking cold showers for a few days, he must have missed that detail or just couldn’t be bothered ;-))

The power plugs are different to the Australian ones, but they also have a switch like at home. Bathrooms have no power plug, so we are charging our electric toothbrushes in the bedroom/study.

Our unit is a 4-1 bedroom unit, which means there are four bedrooms and a maid’s room, but that room is so small it would only fit a children’s bed, ehm custom made bed and maybe a shelf and them there is a bathroom next to it, which is a toilet under a sink or so... Next to our front door is a door that leads straight into the kitchen, it’s the maid’s entrance. In our kitchen the fridge is almost in front of that door, so if we were to have a maid, she has to be Esther’s size to squeeze into the kitchen or her bedroom/toilet.

Wednesday, 16.11.

We unpacked our suitcases, went swimming in the huge pool and had a consultant and the landlord’s representative meeting. That meeting took very long, the consultant who looked after our interests must have had lots of German blood in her.... For a little while I feared we had to look for another unit, but in the end we signed the contract and the landlord agreed to fix one of the kitchen cabinets. 

Lunch was a bit of a challenge, there was no pot nor microwave in the kitchen and I was hoping to boil eggs whilst pouring boiling hot water over them, letting them sit in it for a while and then again pouring freshly boiled water over them... after half an hour the eggs were only half cooked. So we settled for salad for lunch.

At 4pm it started to rain for 30min - rainy season. I wonder if it will be like that every afternoon. Karsten and Jonas came back just before the rain, they had gone shopping. Now I have a pot and we finished hard boiling those eggs - we ate them for afternoon tea.

We then had another swim and dinner at an Italian restaurant not far from here, so we walked there and back. It is quite expensive to be able to buy a car, you need a license which costs S$160 000 - just the license without the car. But taxi and bus fares are relatively affordable.

Thursday, 17.11.

We had a 10am appointment at Dr. Yam, an obstetrician I rang from Australia. To get there we booked two taxis, since one taxi only takes 4 passengers. Punctual at 10am we were seen in. After going through all the relevant details and looking over the many pages of my “history”, he wanted to do a scan himself. He then told us, that nearly all Singaporeans find out their baby’s gender and therefore his comments reflect that. So he has to be careful not to give it away in our case... The baby’s weight is apparently on the heavy side (2.1kg, interesting how sure he was on that, no maybe or roughly). My GP warned me that here they don’t use Dopplers to check the baby’s heartbeat but they scan, which seems to be true. The receptionist gave me a bag full of packed milk powder, not for the baby to come but for me! It looks and tasted a bit like formula... hm, I am not sure I’ll be able to drink all those. I tried one just to see, it’s very sugary - vanilla flavour, but I guess not the baby nor I we don’t need the extra calories as it is.

We took another round of taxis to Marina Bay, in the past two year there has been a lot of construction going on. 3 new malls on Orchard Road - how much shopping can one do? And the whole Marina Bay area: A sculpture that looks like a half peeled orange (Marina Bay Sands), a huge shopping centre etc. We walked through the shopping centre, all the top brands in one place. The food court was great, each stalls prepared food from one Asian country, we ate some kind of Chinese food (I forgot which province). The children enjoyed the noodles and the meat, Jonas and Michael loved the dumplings.

Our drive home was all along Bukit Timah Road, it’s one of the longest roads in Singapore, 25km, extending from the city centre to the North West towards Johor Bahur in Malaysia. Bukit Timah means “tin hill” even though there is no tin here. But around 150 years ago 200 people were killed along here by tigers, jungle live!

Friday, 18.11.

The morning was filled with waiting for a courier with paper works for our visas, swimming and online shopping. Our consultant from Wednesday gave me a website for groceries, she recommended the meat as the meat in the shops is very expensive. Well it wasn’t particular cheap there either. I also found some German yoghurt. It’s quite interesting where all those food items come from, spices from the US, meat from Australia, yoghurt from German, cream cheese from Denmark etc.

In the afternoon we walked to the nearest McDonalds, only 10 minutes away, we got there just before it poured down. So much for raining every day at the same time, it didn’t rain at all yesterday and today at around 2:30ish. Opposite Maccas there is a shopping centre with a supermarket “Fair Price”, well that can be debated. But apparently it’s cheaper than “Cold Storage” which is under McDonalds. The vegetable section is filled with Asian greens, I bought some Kai-lan (which crossed with broccoli made broccolini, they belong to the same group), some Pak Choi (Chinese cabbage, celery like) and some Chye sim (which is similar to kai-lan, I found that out after some Internet research, I guess I have to go shopping with an iPad to know what I am buying and how to cook it or with what. I had the impression Oyster Sauce is quite handy with all those greens...). 

Milk is also very expensive (2l fresh milk from Thailand costs S$ 5.50, the other milk is even dearer, also the Australian one ;-)). I wonder what we can do with our little calves here. Pasta sauce was on special 2 normal jars for over S$6, normally one costs S$4. Flour is expensive too. I guess the best way is to go to the wet markets. They are open in the mornings, I’ll have to find out more...

We got home in two taxis again since we had all our shopping to take along.

Saturday, 19.11.

Today our airfreight boxes arrived, the kitchenware arrived plus some toys, stationary, all things computer (yes, I did see Karsten from time to time emerging from the study and not tangled up in cables) and very importantly the Xbox, I mean the medication/First Aid stuff;-) After unpacking and organising we went for a swim, how did you guess? My grocery order arrived too - Australian steak for dinner. We never had such tender and fine meat back home, even Cha Cha Char (for non-Brisbanesider, it’s one of the best steak restaurants in Brisbane) can’t compete with it. I stir fried Kai-lan and Pak Choi in Soya sauce and Sweet sauce, it tasted yummy.

Sunday, 20.11.

Turned out the Free Evangelical Church close to McDonalds has move a few years ago and is now 20min drive away. We wanted to find a church close by, so that we don’t have to rely on taxis on a Sunday. There is a Methodist School next to us, maybe we’ll visit them next week, 11am seemed too close to lunch (hungry children can’t listen well) and we were too late for the 9am service.

Well, so Karsten read us Noah’s story, he had it on his heart for a while. Noah had to start anew as do we at the moment. The world he knew had changed sharply, they were 8 people and God guided them ;-) 

Monday, 21.11.

We need to get a special document (employment card or dependent card) to be able to stay here in Singapore, so we went to the Ministry of Manpower in the city in our “normal” formation: 2 taxis ;-) Once we have those cards we are able to buy SIM cards for our mobiles. It’s interesting that we could open a bank account just with the invitation letter which is valid for 3 months or until we get the proper card but it’s not possible to buy a mobile plan.... Welcome to HiTech!

Maplewood Condominium was build around 15years ago and has 697 units!!! They are situated around a big pool and a little pool, there are also BBQs and lots of greenery. Apparently there are mainly families living here. Two other mums I talked to (one German, one Danish) said they have been living here for 9 and 11 years. There is a gym, tennis and squash courts and a little play ground. 

During the week we are the only ones using the pool till about 3ish when the children start coming home from school. On the weekend there were more people in the pool, but by far not crowded. We heard a lot about the various laws and penalties but so far it is not as strict as I imagined it. The children have been jumping into the pool even though it’s not allowed but so far nobody said anything not even the security guard walking around occasionally.

When Karsten took a taxi to work today the fare cost S$12 but on the way back after 6pm it cost S$22 due to rush hour traffic and a higher rate during that time. So we hope to see him come home earlier ;-)