6/13/2016 - The Couch

Even though we thought we would like to live abroad again at some point in our life, we did what most people would do when we moved home a few years ago - bought new furniture. Our old couch had served its purpose admirably and had taken the heat and humidity of Singapore like a champ.  We even tried to sell it on our way out, but the local comments we received back were "It is too soft and comfortable."  Not sure how that is even possible, but in any light, it became a spare seating space in our sun room in St. Paul. Replacing it was an overstuffed leather arm chair as well as an overstuffed leather couch.  Me being 6'5" (or 196 cm as I tell people here) I wanted something that I could comfortably lay down and stretch out on.  I wasn't looking for a middle seat economy couch - I needed the Singapore Airlines business class seat of couches.  Both were a little too large for our apartment in St. Paul, but we knew that was temporary so it was not a big deal.  Well who knew its next resting place would not be a house in the Twin Cities, but a condo in Singapore, 35 floors up.

We knew we were limited in our choice in housing in Singapore based on our furniture that was en-route on the water, so that was one of the reasons we moved into the Rochester.  The living room was fairly large and once we got everything set up in it, it actually looked like it fit well.  Getting it set up though turned out to be the key phrase.  On move in day we were riding the elevator up to our apartment and looking at the height of it.  Our concern was actually over our king sized bed, as we knew a king sized bed in Singapore had different dimensions than the U.S.  The ceiling was much taller than I was, so we pushed it from our thoughts and prepared for the onslaught of boxes to arrive. Plus the NCAA championship basketball game was on and I needed to get my iPad fired up!

A short while later 8 men arrived and we were rolling, checking off items on the list, directing where to put them, unpacking kitchen items as fast as possible to get the wrapping paper and boxes back outside, it was controlled chaos!  The bed came in and then the large chair, but still no couch.  Finally, at one point one of the guys tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to go downstairs.....gulp, there was only one item missing and Sarah and I gave each other a knowing look.  When I arrived in the basement I was actually told I was not needed, they had figured the game of tetris out and could get the couch in the elevator.  Side-bar, I'm sure you are wondering, why don't they just put it in the service elevator?  Its a new building, shouldn't there be one?  Great question and for future reference or residents, there is no service elevator.  I head back upstairs on the normal elevator, but before I can even settle back in I am summoned back downstairs.

It turns out that, no, it cannot fit in the elevator so they asked me if the couch has "sentimental" value, to which I replied with saying "no it had functional" value.  We needed those seating options and I was not going to be building a canoe for us to sit on, Joey and Chandler style.  Long story short, you have likely surmised how this ended and our couch has now been up the stairs more times than we have.  Needless to say, we gave the gentlemen a rather nice tip in appreciation....something tells me it will be a different crew that ultimately moves us out.  On the flip side, everyone that has come over to visit knows the story about the couch and has a good chuckle about it.  After sitting down on it for a bit, without fail, every single person has said, oh......I would have had this carried up the stairs as well.

Epilogue - I believe on the same evening I learned how to say "Row chester" I was looking at the couch in the apartment across the way and said "How did you get that up here?"  Everyone in the room thought it was a rather odd question until our neighbor says "funny story....."  Something tells me we might have a similar conversation in our place someday.

6/5/2016 - Rochester Condo, Home Sweet Home

Welcome to our deluxe apartment in the sky..... well maybe not deluxe, but at 35 stories up its certainly been a change from our ground floor duplex in St. Paul.  We like to say we have a sea view, but our friends remind us that it is really a "port view."  With the dozens of container ships, we can't really argue that logic, but hey, its water, its salty, so 6 of one half a dozen of the other.  Nice open kitchen, living room and dining room.  Our couch that is going to star in its own post shortly and finally, finally, all the fun paintings and posters that we had purchased as mementos from our journeys, but were too lazy to hang up have now seen the light of day. Thank goodness for 3M command hooks on these concrete walls, can you imagine me having to use a heavy duty drill? Everything is starting to feel like home in our 3 bedroom (OK, really more like 2 1/2 beds, but at least a futon is in one room) sky pad.  We're close to the top right corner of the building for point of reference.

We had the benefit of hindsight in moving into the Rochester Condo.  It had been tops on our list on our first tango in Singapore, but the rental market at the time was just too overpriced.  Fast forward 4 years and multiple new buildings being opened and now it was right in the sweet spot of our budget.  It sits across the street from an MRT interchange so we have the green line and the circle line minutes out our doorstep.  We can be downtown in 15 minutes or back to Holland Village and restaurants and bars or the Botanic Gardens even faster than that - super convenient.  Even work is only a 15 minute drive for me in the morning.  Evenings, well that is a bit of a roll of the dice.

There is a huge mall across the street with quite a few restaurants as well as a grocery store in the basement if we ever forget to pick up something at our local wet market.  I just got back from my $10 haircut at the Korean Barber Shop over there - missed that.  Who doesn't like having their head vacuumed after a quick trim?  We even have some nicer restaurants in Rochester Park across the street.  There are black and white colonial houses that were formerly for the British military - now they are anything from a Starbucks to an Italian restaurant. 

This being our second go round you would think we would have all the local tips down pat, but some areas continue to flummox us. During our initial two weeks living here we felt like we were in a taxi all the time, bank accounts, IKEA runs, furniture stores, food stock up, you name it.  So an added bonus to having a major MRT stop, mall and restaurants just a hop skip and a jump away was we finally thought we would be living in a place in Singapore where the taxi drivers knew where to go.  Silly us - we received countless blank stares and multiple directions via Google Maps on our phones being given from the back seat. How in the world did no one know where the Rochester condo was?  

One night, halfway through complaining about this dilemma for the umpteenth time, our neighbor across the hall started smirking with an understanding look.  "You're saying it wrong, you can't say RoD Chester (like New York or Minnesota) with a hard R and throwing a D in there, you need to say Row chester with a soft r."  This seemed ridiculous, but we were willing to try anything at this point.  The following week I was in the taxi line at the airport thinking that this is never going to work and then feeling even more embarrassed as I heard 'Row chester' coming out of my mouth, but sure enough I received a head nod from the driver and away we went.  Who knew?  Was a great reminder that even after living here before we still have plenty to learn and even getting a taxi to the right place can be its own adventure.

5/29/2016 - We're Back!

It's alive, it's alive....thanks to requests from our thousands of readers (ok, ok, more like dozens), much like Frankenstein's Monster, the blog has been brought back to life!  Why, inquiring minds would like to know?  Well fast forward from the last post to Spring of 2016 and we have somehow found ourselves "Back on the Far Side of the World." You half expect Doc Brown to yell "I just sent you back to the U.S., what in Great Scott are you doing here?"  As you can tell (oh brave readers who have ventured down this twisted path with us before) a few years has not changed my cultural reference points and go to movie analogies.

As usual - I digress.  It would appear that I came dangerously close to tying a bow on the initial version of this running documentary and then just up and walked away.  Almost as if you were working on a puzzle and decided the last few pieces weren't really important, everyone can tell its a painting of a windmill even if it has a hole or two in it.  In our case, the two missing pieces were a wonderful day spent wine tasting in Australia followed by 4 days of being lazy in Ubud, Bali amongst the rice paddies.  Luckily, this movie sequel that is our life will likely involve both of those endeavors again and they will ultimately get their moment in the sun.

A few months back, Sarah and I landed at Changi Airport with all our gear in tow.  Some of our household goods likely have more frequent flier miles than your average person.  Probably not the most eco-friendly expats in history, but what you can you do?  Maybe we'll run our air-con a little less to try and balance things out.   Now that we are starting to feel settled in again in Singapore, this has freed up some spare time for yours truly to dust off his creative writing skills, so here we are.

The journey this time around promises to be a little different.  New job so no more weekly flights to Penang for this guy.  Sarah is convinced she would have been a great lawyer (she's probably right) and sporadically threatens to go to Law School, but no additional planned graduate programs for her. I'm more worried about a furry four legged friend greeting me at the door one day than I am of a University acceptance letter arriving in the mail.  Likely less weekend trips to far flung locales, but hopefully longer, more in depth vacations.  That being said, we are of course off to Thailand in June and July for a few weekends trips.  Apparently, somethings never change.

What else can you expect in the next few weeks in terms of reading material?

• Photo tour of our new lodging - just like House Hunters International except you only get to see one place.  Maybe we'll slip some info in for the places we chose NOT to move into.
• We have a car!  I'm driving to work every day..... on the wrong side of the road.  I still haven't convinced our friends from Singapore that it is the wrong side of the road, but I'm working on it. Need to study for my driving test some more, ugg, but lots of good driving stories. 
• New outdoor market.  Lychees and rambutans are in season!  Plus, we brought a bbq with this time so it forced us to put on a brave face and start purchasing meat to grill.

I also take requests, so if I'm skimping in certain areas, please let me know.  I might even put some ads on here to see what type of money we bring in.  I have a feeling it won't even be enough to purchase an item off the dollar menu at McDonalds, but would probably be a good story if nothing else.

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy the sunset from our balcony!