Hawker Center and the Snail!

So one of the great things about our condo is the fact that we live right around the corner from a Hawker Center.  In Singapore in the late 1990's the government decided to clean up the streets and move all of the beloved street vendors into consolidated spaces where they could be overseen (ie, 'managed') and a certain level of cleanliness and order was established.  The result were Hawker Centers - a place where you can try Chinese, Indian, Malay and exotic Southeast Asia foods all in one place.  It's outside, napkins are not usually provided and you have to be brave enough to try new things and converse with the locals there.

You probably are not surprised to know that Drayton is now know by name in our local Hawker Center and Henry is immediately recognized as well.  I didn't go with them the first time but did visit last night and laughed as Drayton was greeted with slaps on the back and a big Tiger beer for all of us.  Michael and his wife Linda (the owners of one of the hawker stalls) kept the beer flowing while we tried satays, calamari, grilled chicken wings, fried rices, Kailan (a local Singapore vegetable delicacy) and lots of Tiger beers.  Luckily we had my brother Ward, his wife Alexa and their two kids with us to sample all of this food.  It was a fun evening and the temperature was very nice although always humid (and a shower is required afterwards since you just smell like the Hawker Center until your next shower!).

Attached are a few pics from Drayton's first visit to our local Hawker Center.  They enjoyed their food and then on the walk home managed to find the largest snail I have ever seen.  Of course, the kids had to pretend to eat the thing to each other's amusement.  Lots of fun to have this local treat right around our corner!

 In the outdoor Hawker Center

Sharing a coconut water

The huge snail found on the path home.....

... which Henry pretended to eat (not entirely sure that Daddy's wasn't going to drop it into his mouth while taking the picture)!

Post From Ella

Hello. This week has been very interesting, exciting, and scary, but it has also been fun! I think. Here you can buy your groceries in the mall, then get them delivered to your condo! Our condo is small but big, it is confusing, we have learned to make the most of our space! Maybe my parents have not completely ruined my life, the have just bent it at a 90º angle.

Bye!!!!!!!

First Week in Singapore Complete!

We celebrated Sumner's birthday on our first day in our condo - found a cake and finally did presents at 10pm that night!  He's very excited to now have his own Kindle with lots of books loaded on it.

 Sumner's bedroom (each room has a window seat which has been a huge hit and Sumner loves the view out his window at night - he's becoming quite the city skyline lover!)

 The dining room section of our living area

 The dry kitchen in the living area (there's a 'wet kitchen' through a sliding door that goes to an un-air conditioned part where there's another stove, a bigger sink, laundry machines and the helper's room)

Our balcony - what makes our condo great is that there isn't a tall condo right in front of us so we have longer views and no one looking directly into our window!

 Henry's bedroom - he has a corner window seat but he does look directly into the condo next door (not that he cares!)

Our bedroom - it has a great balcony although it does have a tall building in front of it but that's ok.  No naked sunbathing I guess - hmmm, darn!

Six days have passed since our last update and the adventures have continued.  We are definitely getting settled into life here in Singapore and learning the way things work here.  First off are a few lessons on language differences.  For instance, terminology:

                An Elevator is a Lift here (and the floors are referred to as stories)

                A Parking Garage is a Carpark (the basement of our condo is the Carpark)

                Take out is referred to as Take-Away and they look at you very funny if you say the former

                You are in Grade 7, not 7th Grade (random!)

 No doubt there are many more - we will update as we learn them!

This week we have learned how to have groceries delivered - imperative if you are ordering more than you can carry home.  We found a store, Giant, which was the best source of house stuff for us - plastic crates, fans, toaster oven, garbage cans, etc.  And we found IKEA - which is going to furnish our house until we find things we really love!  Today, we await the delivery from IKEA of a dining room table and chairs, bookcases for child's room (yeah, they can finally put things away!), storage for our wet kitchen and a shoe rack for our lobby (most people don't wear shoes inside at all).  Everything arrives unassemlbed so we will be spending Friday and Saturday putting things together but the end result will be a home that is finally a little more organized with less boxes! 

Will post new pics with our "finished" condo one the weekend is over.  The Ward Hortons arrive on Sunday and we are so excited and have SO many things we want to do with them!

First Day in Singapore

Well we officially landed in Singapore at 1:15am on Friday, August 1st.  By the end of Friday we had signed all documentation for our new condo, the moving trucks had delivered our sea container contents and we had unboxed everything and found a place for almost all of it.

So far -  a few tears from Ella who is still coming around to concept of moving, although the new window seat in her bedroom helped improve her attitude.  A few tears from me as I tried to get my arms around what needed to be done and what was ahead of us.  A few tears from Sumner and Henry because - well, just because they were fighting with each other!  Haven't seen Drayton shed a tear yet but the week is still young and someone might drive him to tears yet!

Lunch on the condo floor with no furniture to sit on (and no napkins or a garbage can) has made us realize that one of our first stops today will be to find a kitchen table and chairs and sofa and a TV - the last a requirement of Drayton's.  But first we will celebrate Sumner's 10TH birthday this morning - will move our luggage from the hotel to the condo and unpack his birthday presents and then celebrate with him!  Hopefully furniture shopping was tops on his list of things to do for his birthday!