Brief update

Good day, good dough.

I have not been writing here for a very good reason. I have been sick, or I still am sick. A few days ago I suddenly felt ill and it manifested in sneezing, fever and coughing through the night. My throat is sore and tickles me constantly. I am temperature-confused which John has to suffer for. When I think it is hot and need the AC to be on, he says it really cold in here and that I am confused. Possibly very true.

I am feeling better today though. Throat is still what I wrote above but the fever seems to be gone. Still sneezing and coughing, but I will pretend that I do not and hopefully that will cure me. Who knows?

John was out during Saturday, meeting with people from Reddit and making new friends. I had been looking forward to this but was unable to go, very sad about that. Next time though! Probably will find something else that will prevent me from attending. Let us not forget how easily I get burned (and how stupid I am for being in the pool during the worst hours).

Since I have been home lately I am glad to announce that the third chapter of my book has been edited. This is currently my work. The book is done, I am just fixing the chapters and writing new scenes to explain other scenes. Stuff like that. It is good though, so much fun reading what I wrote over a year ago.

Enjoy your day and here is a picture of a snail.

Back to IKEA

Today I did not feel so well. It was this and that and also very expected. The plan was to stay at home.

At two o'clock Annika and I were hungry. Since I did not want to travel very far we decided to eat sushi at Sukuraya. We ordered a plate of seven California rolls to share, a fried prawn puck and small unusual sushirolls (reminded me of flatbread roller or tunnbrödsrulle for more accuracy). When that was gone we ordered more. Sushi is so good, it is difficult to stop eating. I think that our waitress smiled when the second order came.

After that we took a trip into IKEA. John signed the letter of conduct yesterday which means we almost have a contract at the apartment on the sixteenth floor at d'Leedon. IKEA is a gold mine for us who want to feel at home in a foreign country. We looked at what kind of furniture we needed, what little items we wanted and the best part, colours! I am thinking black wood furniture, dark grey couch, orange pillows and details, a purple carpet and dining chairs.

Apparently we were in there for quite some time, because when we emerged with two ice creams it was almost five in the afternoon. We bought eighteen cans of Coke and yoghurt at Cold Storage and headed home. Not five minutes later it was heavy rain outside, the kind of rain you only see in Asia.

I tried to write the end of chapter three tonight, but was constantly distracted and then my wonderful John came home. Tomorrow Annika will fly away for five days and I will go to lunch with John and a few of his colleagues. I am not sure I want to show my face to strangers though.

I am still red.

Some people work, some people burn

Since we were really active yesterday, we had the day of. At least Annika and I, John went to work as usual.

The morning was slow and I only got out of bed because the housemaid came in. We sat at the balcony while she and another little Asian woman cleaned our apartment. I do not know if I will get used to this, I am used to doing all this myself, so it will be nice to take over these chores when we move to our apartment.

As soon as she left we ate the IKEA food we had at home. Unfortunately we do not have an oven here and had to cook it in the microwave oven, probably not as good as it could have been. After that I went up to the pool, swam ten lengths and relaxed in the sun. This time being careful and put on three layers of sun cream. I started on a new book (The Lies of Locke Lamora) and eventually got company by Annika. Swam another four lengths and then put my chair in the shadow to continue reading.

Still I got red and burned. My leg bubbled up and crept me out, but Annika calmed me down by saying it was the previous burn that just had gotten worse. When I got back down to the apartment I saw half my face was red and the other half white, shoulders shining red whilst my stomach is white. I sighed! Eventually this will work out, I will be brown and even.

I walked to meet John by the station and we met Annika at the mall next doors. We ate at the food court and then we split up again. John and I went back, he wanted to game and I called Sanna over Skype. Miss my friend so much, I miss hugging her. Looking forward to have her over here and show everything in this new home country.

A pricey view

Good night.

We have had a long day. Ken and Erin, our agents, picked us up at one o'clock and took us directly to d'Leedon. There was heavy downpour all day so it was really nice to sit in a car and not have to be out in the rain at all. The apartment was on the eight floor, one bedroom plus a studio (studio not being  a room but a square behind the door) where we could put our guests. The place was fresh, new and felt like it could be home. A full kitchen with oven, which was something we really looked for. Not a large balcony but a table and two chairs would fit. View was good, not too far up, could see the pool and straight across was the highway. Kind of noisy with any window open but the location and apartment was too nice to complain about the cars.

The next one was at Carabelle. This was not as futuristic and had a huge pool with smaller ones as well. Location kind of inconvenient, had to take a bus to the MRT, but around the station were a lot of shops and malls (or so we were told). The apartment was large, two rooms, two bathrooms, no oven though and a lot of storage. High ceiling and big balcony with a weird trench for a small garden. This whole place ended up being too big for just the two of us, we would have too much space over and would have problem filling it with stuff since we got rid of almost everything and only have two large suitcases with us. But if we do not get anything else, this would be our next best option.

We then ate at their choice of food court down by HarbourFront. Neither Annika nor me took a meal were we could expect it to be spicy but of course it was. It took us by surprise but we realised it would be something to get used to, everything here is spicy. Picked up John at his work and went back to d'Leedon to see another apartment.

This one was at floor sixteen and had a different layout and just a tiny bit smaller. The kitchen was not as well planned but according to John it was preferable. After all, he is the one who is going to be there. We had difficulties fitting all the furnitures we are thinking about, but John eventually came with a suitable solution. What we really fell for was the view. No highway or cars, this was Singapore as long as the eye could see. It was beautiful and amazing and very hard to describe in words.

This is where we want to live. We gave our agents a price and they will forward the offer. Hopefully this is our home in three weeks.

Wish us luck!

More apartments

Before I start this post about all the apartments we saw today I want you to know that I know where I want to live here in Singapore. More of this later in this post, so first things first.

Annika and I went to Haw Par Villa station to meet an agent. He was late and we sat sweating at a bus stop. Eventually he showed up and told us he only had one apartment to show. Kind of a disappointment since we had travelled all the way there. The house was brand new, so new it was still a construction site at the roof, but it was basically finished. It looked good and well planned, but a bit too small and would be crowded with guests and a cat. The big no was that when we asked for an oven she pointed to the microwave oven that was installed like a real oven and seemed to think this was the same thing.

He took us to a house where he had no access and laughed a lot when Annika proposed to ask someone who came down to the door where we stood if we could see their apartment. Not sure why he laughed, but we took care of it. A couple came down, the question was asked and the girl showed us the pool area and then their apartment. They were moving out and she gave us some other names we should look at. The apartment was small and did not even have a refrigerator. She walked us down and we exchanged phone numbers (now that both John and I have Singaporean numbers) which was really sweet and she wanted to meet again.

Then we where hungry. Not many places to choose from we sat down at a small café and ordered black carrot cake (sweet, white is salty), a French toast, two small scrambled eggs (which I from that day now like), lime juice and tea. We sat there a while and waited for the rain to stop since we did not bring an umbrella.

Eventually we could walk around the area, get to know the place and looked at other places where we might want to live. We walked to meet an agent at Le Hill and stopped under a large bush hanging over the street to once again avoid being drowned. John wrote about this place in the earlier post, so I'm moving onwards.

We walked down to the station to get the feel of the time and road to get there. It took ten minutes to go down the hill, but it would probably take much longer in the heat to go up. Even though the apartment looked great, the pool area was dead and we said no to Le Hill.

I got a text from another agent who said he was running late due to traffic. We sat at the bus stop for also forty minutes before he showed up and took us to some apartments in town. Three places, all to tiny for us to live in. One person or maybe two would find it bearable, but we like space, we want a cat, we want guest to stay in their own room. So an apartment in the middle of Singapores busy life is a no.

But then it happened. We were to look at a place and when we arrived the other agent was not present. Instead our agent took us around in the car and seemed to panic. Drove around with no goal until we said he could show us d'Leedon.

This is the place. Big p. The Place. I saw a YouTuber who lived there and thought the place looked amazing. It did. Like stepping into a scifi movie. Seven enormous houses, equal amount of pools, people where at the gym, laying on stools and it was around nine o'clock. It felt like home. We did not even get to see an apartment, but we really liked the area. So much that I did not see where I put my feet and stepped right down in the water. Then the other agent was a the other place and we had to go, but it did not feel right to leave without getting an apartment first. So in the car I could not stop saying the name of the place. D'Leedon!

It is not even worth mentioning the other place. It looked good, but it was not for us. The kind agent couple that had showed us the places eventually drove us home again. Later we found out they fixed so we can see apartments at d'Leedon today.

Excited!

The Great Condo Hunt

Good evening!

John here. Since my partner was kind of out of commission today I figured it is probably my time to shine, or write, or whatever. Blogging it is!

Today we started looking at condos for real. Not just the online oh-look-this-seems-fancy type of looking but proper travel-to-the-place-and-speak-with-an-agent stuff.

It seems that agents are very courteous here in Singapore as everyone keeps insisting they pick us up, not only at our home but if we've previously been with another agent. Very relaxed mood, not at all the hectic and aggressive kind of behaviour one usually associates with finding a place to live. It is like... like they actually care about whether or not you like the place and want you to find a decent home. Team Singapore go, I guess?

So we begun the day by getting picked up outside our door by a nice couple, agents both of them - very romantic, and driving to a place called Heritage View. It was relatively close to where I work and generally well regarded among expats, or so it appeared when we arrived as it felt like walking in to a photoshoot of Hipster Lounge Magazine. Still not sure if it was a luxury resort or if decadence is the word here - tons of pools, hang out areas, a large-ass fountain - you name it! The condo itself was not much to talk about, so let's not.

After spending enough time at the place to not seem rude towards the agent, she was very nice after all, we excuse ourselves to go to another viewing. This time at Pasir Panjang; a more rural area nearby Haw Par Villa, which for your information is a place we have to go some time since it looked like a park made out of pink ice-cream and Chinese statues. The agents, who coincidentally were also a couple, pick us up by the gates of Heritage View and drove us there.

Lo and behold, time passes and we found ourselves at a condo grounds called Le Heu. In hindsight I am starting to think it is a play on words, as in "The View". Later we discovered it was actually called Le Hill, total let down.

It's a bit further away from the MRT and civilization in general but the view was gorgeous. Might be worth it. Very nice condo too! I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think Ellie might too once she actually gets a chance to pop by. If we do go back, this might be underwhelming once we have seen more places. Now you are of course sitting on the edge of your seat asking yourself "when, when is this happening?" and I won't leave you hanging. Tomorrow we have two, or maybe three, showings scheduled with a bunch of different agents.

It feels like being the first salmon arriving for the annual river run only to find that the bears forgot to set their hibernation alarm; so a group of hip other-sexed salmons got there even earlier, because taking risks is totes cool in their society, and suddenly you find yourself not only an early bird but a very, very wanted such.

They left us at Vivocity to continue our Sunday business, I mentioned they were pretty darn courteous right? So we spent some time eating since we missed lunch and got both Ellie and I new sim cards. Bank? Check! Phone? Check! Visa? Double check! Give us a house, furniture, another computer and a little cat and we are set for life.

Now this was great and all but the highlight of my day was travelling to the Botanic Gardens and meeting up with a new, local, friend of ours. Not sure if he wants to be mentioned by name so I'll skip that part, but he bought me a delicious latte, spent a little over three hours listening to me rant about LEGO, life, backstory, accents and my perceived difference between Singaporean Chinese and Chinese-Chinese. At the end of it all he was still smiling, showed me the cheese section of Cold Storage and drove me home. If that does not equal to a solid first encounter you need to reconsider your rating systems.

All in all a pretty neat day. Mad props to Annika for spending her valuable time re-enacting the second coming of Jesus but mom style, although she never died in between being my full time mother and now, but eh, all metaphors can't be that thought out.

Now let's see if you can piece these pictures together with the story itself.

See you later.

Two days update

Yesterday, Friday, I was home all day feeling not so good. This was expected when moving to a new country. Annika and I met John at the Buona Vista station and immediately travelled to Rochor.

John was very on point. We walked to Sim Lim Square and up to the fourth floor to the PC store we had researched it had the cheapest computer parts. While the guy working there put everything together in plastic bags, the three of us went downstairs and ate dinner at the food court. John's choice of food was the best one, Annika and I ate a mango salad drowned in chilli sauce. Both of us ate half of it. Annika took of towards the shopping street and we went back to SLS.

John withdrew so much cash that his wallet would not close properly because there was a rebate for paying cash. We paid and a guy helped us with a cart to get the things down. We made a stop at another store to get the screen and mouse that we wanted before we went out in the heat and stood by the taxi stand. Our taxi driver was very kind and explained things about taxes and payment. For instance we think that the driver that took us to Ministry of Manpower added three dollars extra for no reason. If we ask for receipt we might not have paid as much as we did. Lesson learned.

During the evening and into the night John put together the computer all by himself. Very interested I tried to look but he had made the area a no-touch-zone-for-Ellie so I sat in the sofa playing Destiny on PS4. Around midnight I put myself to bed while the two of them were still up and I was sleeping like a baby when John came in.

"Long story short: the computer was not working as planned. Or at all for that matter. It was impossible to get any kind of image signal from either the motherboard or graphics card, although everything started up like it should, so nothing seemed broken. I had stayed up until around two in the morning trying to troubleshoot every single little detail, including plugging out everything that wasn't essential, creating a poor husk of a computer to remove all possible miss-wirings and redundancies. A lot of frustration, a few calls with some great friends in Sweden - thank you David and Joel - and tons of manual reading later I gave up. Slept pretty poorly thinking about which part was broken and how much of a fuss it would be to replace. 

Turns out I had to trick the motherboard into sending out a HDMI signal by plugging in a VGA cable, installing windows, inserting a secondary monitor via HDMI, making it my main one, rebooting with that configuration and then plugging in the graphics card. Whew. Who would've thought of that?" - John

Today has been a very slow day. I did not feel well at all. Annika spent most of the lunch and afternoon up on the roof. John and I went out to buy food, ate lunch and buy essentials. It took longer than expected because of me, but eventually we made it home. The rain came just after and was very loud, sounded like somebody was pouring buckets from the roof. Saturday became a gaming day, a very much needed one.

Tomorrow we will go see some apartments.