Happy Tuesday!
I know it’s been ages since I last posted something, my mother assures me that my many fans *cough* my grandmother *cough* have been awaiting the next update on my crazy life. So here it is!
I have a place to live!
This is me in front of my new front door! But we’ll get there in a second.
First I had to go house shopping. And before I went house shopping, I had to go to work. This is my room for the first few days, me my first da of work, and the view out the window on my first day from Prof. Thakor’s apartment where I stayed for my first few days in Singapore.
Work has been pretty good. I’ve been mostly doing 3D design for them, even though I was hired as an electrical engineer, but no one else on the team knows how to do that super well so I got put on the job. If there’s one thing clinic got me good at, it’s SolidWorks so I’ve definitely been making use of those skills!
What I have been designing though, is a bit different than usual. My lab does do animal testing, I know that this can be a touchy subject for many people including myself but the animals are cared for very well and we do everything we can to make sure that the animals are comfortable, no matter what is being tested. I can tell you, it’s shockingly hard to design for an animal that definitely doesn’t want something strapped onto it, who is bored and has nothing to do but play with whatever is strapped onto it, and you are not able to restrict their movement or their grooming habits or make them uncomfortable in any way that can be avoided. The cool part is that I got to meet a monkey named George the other day! He had a little high chair like thing where the handlers fed him snacks to distract him while we tried to get a good measurement of his hand. I can’t show you pictures of George but I can show you this (okay, maybe I’m not supposed to but it’s too hilarious not to share, just don’t tell, okay??) –
I assume Bacon is a monkey who likes to eat and I’m pretty sure this was a note from one researcher to another. I love it!
Work has generally been good and I’m excited to do more different things. I’m starting some video data analysis tomorrow with some program I know nothing about so wish me luck! Hopefully I can figure it out quickly!
This is the classy logo outside my office.
And this is a very blurry picture taken while walking through a mad crowd of my commute to work. Okay, the commute to the water polo pool. But my commute is nuts like this even though it’s only two stops away. The public transportation here is amazing and I’m so happy it’s here since I can’t exactly afford a car but it definitely gets crazy. There will be lines on every platform to get on the trains at rush hour and streams of people flowing everywhere. It’s a pretty interesting experience. It isn’t so bad though, you can usually get on the next train, even if you have to be smashed up against the doors, if you make sure to choose the shortest line you can. I can’t describe this, you’ll just have to come try it. Oh, and if it isn’t rush hour or you’re going against traffic (I know it’s people walking but it is definitely just like car traffic), it’s totally great.
After a day or two of work I was ready to start looking for a place. I am very thankful that the director of my program allowed me to stay in a spare bedroom for a few days while I worked out permanent housing but I really just wanted to unpack and not live out of a suitcase! The first house, Adam came to look at with me. It was supposed to be a ten minute walk from NUH (the hospital right next to where I work) by a shortcut but we didn’t know that on the way over so we took an overland route. It took forever, was through a weird area (everyone keeps telling me it’s safe everywhere in Singapore and I keep telling them that I’m from LA and old habits die hard), and was really hot! We got there and I had remembered the apartment block number wrong so we climbed three flights of stairs only to climb back down and find the right place. The people were nice enough but not the most friendly. Just kind of showed us the place and that was it. Adam pointed out that they smoked and that was pretty much it for me. It was a nice place but not quite right for me. They did try to direct us to the shortcut but it was through a park and even with GPS and a map we got horribly lost and it probably took us like 40 minutes to actually get back to NUH. We’ve got mad sense of direction. But we did have a great conversation about bad dates we’ve been on which moved on quickly to bad dating decisions we’ve made. Learned a lot about each other on that walk.
The second house was one where the owner, Iris, messaged me after seeing my ad on a website for finding roommates. She seemed super nice but I didn’t think that I could afford the rent. When I mentioned that, she still decided to have me come over and see the place and said that we could talk price then. I somehow managed to schedule the viewing for this place and another at the same time and moved the time for the other one when Iris told me someone else wanted to come see it that night even though she said that she would give me priority and wouldn’t decide until I saw the place. Turns out, it was perfect. It is right across the street from a Chinese market with tons of yummy, cheap food and lots of stalls of random stuff it’s fun to shop through and a 24 hour market! It’s on the ninth floor of a complex of a bunch of buildings that all look the same and you can see everyone’s laundry hanging out the windows. It’s kind of cool. The place itself is super nice, Iris had it redone less than a year ago so it’s just gorgeous and very well kept up.
Iris showed me the house, but then we just sat and talked. We got along really well and it definitely seemed like she was really looking for someone she got along with well. Her sister was there to meet me as well, I think to make sure that I wasn’t a crazy. It sounds like her last housemate was not the best. And she must have liked me! Because without asking she said that she would just drop the rate to my budget! So I said I would take it that night and moved in the next day! Moving in was the best. Just unpacking. Although I definitely still need more hangers… I brought more clothes than I realized! Shocking, I know. So here is the place!
This is the first picture I took when moving in! Look how neat it is! Remember that. The quilt is on the bed! That makes it official!
These next two are the views off of the balcony right out the front door. It’s pretty nice. Shockingly green. That’s actually one of my favorite things about this place. You’ll be in the middle of the city but it will still somehow seem kind of wild. Apparently the city was designed with this in mind. I really like it!
This is the place! The door to my room is on the right. But here you can see a bit of the couch and the cabinet below the TV as well as a cute little dining area, the kitchen, and the door to a little back storage room.
Kitchen! So you can see there is no stove. I asked Iris to get me one and she replaced the microwave with a toaster oven. I need to figure out how to use a toaster oven as a microwave now… But hey, I can probably make some little things in it!
Oh! And the best part (not pictured) is the trash chute. It’s behind the sink on the wall. Walk my trash downstairs like some heathen?? Nope. Drop it down the little door in the wall to the ground floor. Bam. (I feel so cool and love it so much!)
Okay, so the bathroom isn’t ordinary. Off of the kitchen there are two frosted glass doors. Wooo! Frosted glass! (I might be getting tired, it’s my bedtime but I want to finish this now or I never will!)
Behind door #1 we have the shower! And the sink? Okay. Whatever. That works I guess. The paint is a little sad in the shower but it is glassed off so it isn’t a wet room. Ain’t nobody like a wet room. Oh! Fun fact. There’s a little boxy thing next to the shower head that warms up the water real time. It’s neat! Except when you forget to turn on the power switch which is out in the kitchen and you have to put your towel on again to go turn that on and then try to shower again and hope you didn’t forget anything else.
Door #2! Toilet! Ya. That’s all. Nothing to see here.
Annnd from the other side of the apartment! You can see the adorable off the side of the counter cow trash can. It’s adorable.
Mah room! I kept delaying making this post because I was going to clean my room and then take the picture but I kept putting it off and I realized it wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t just take a messy one. So that picture where my room was neat that I asked you to remember? Ya, do that now.
This is my wall of shame. It’s falling down a bit. I think the humidity makes the tape come unstuck. I’m working on it. But! It’s the best. It’s pictures of me with pretty much everyone who loves me and who I love. It reminds me that even when I feel alone, I’m not. You are all out there rooting for me and sending me love and prayers and good thoughts and good vibes and I really, really appreciate that. Some days are better than others and the not so great ones are when it really means a lot to have you all up there with me.
Also, note the fan. The air con hasn’t been on all day! Look at me go! I’m slowly getting used to the temperature here! I wore pants the other day. Someone get me a prize!
Here is the keychain Iris got for me! Ahh! I have a real home and real keys! This is my first place! Even though I technically only have a room 😀
Next, the food! Here is some stuff I’ve eaten!
I honestly can say I have no idea what this is other than tasty. I went up to the stall and asked the dude what was good. He asked me a few questions and then gave me this. It was pretty darn good! I should figure out what it is at some point… Also, note that I’m wearing pants.
I went to explore Holland Village (ex pat place with bars and western style things, super spendy) and got conveyor belt sushi! It was awesome and fun! Not the biggest fan of Holland Village but it’s a cool place to have close by to explore!
Buying food here can be pretty expensive, but I definitely have bought some snacks and stuff to make other little meals with. The kind of cool thing (even though it makes it expensive) is that everything here is imported. So my last bottle of milk was from Japan. This one is from Australia.
And I ate a Brazilian chicken for dinner tonight!
All of the shopping!
This is the first meal that I made over here (scrambled eggs and ceral don’t count)! In my new Ikea pans! (I bought so much stuff at Ikea, see the next photos)
Om nom! Simple but delicious! Eating western food can be really, really nice.
IKEAAAA! There really is something about this place. It’s almost completely the same around the world. It is a familiar thing in this crazy place that is so different. It was really nice to go. Adam, who also loves Ikea, came with me and we had a fabulous time pretending to be an engaged couple shopping for our new house. Turns out we have reasonably similar tastes and priorities. Mainly, the kitchen has to be awesome. Where is the prep space?? And no wet rooms. No one wants the whole bathroom soaking wet! We also staged a lover’s spat in the cafeteria. Pretty sure we made the people around us uncomfortable even though Adam told me I’m a terrible actor. That’s okay though, I still had a great time!
Adam helping me carry home the haul 90’s boom box style.
Shiny!!!!
I am also excited to tell you that it has officially been proven that polo players are the best people on the planet. I had a great time going to Queenstown Water Polo club and playing essentially Master’s water polo. My hand mostly held up with just tape although it definitely started to hurt towards the end and I had to get out a bit early. Hoping the Armaid therapy will help! But everyone was super nice and I made friends from all over the world and we all went out to eat after and someone took the time to drive me all the way home. Between this and my shockingly similar experience in Australia, I am definitely making the right decision by finding the water polo players first!
Oh! And I’m doing ballroom dance with Adam. Latin only though because standard is just not quite my thing and I’ve got other shenanigans to do, like water polo! Adam and I have discovered that we could never be partners because whenever we dance together we just giggle, make bad jokes, and hit each other. Zero focus. But now I can’t find a partner! Which might not be bad, leaves more time for other things!
At the end of this horrendously long post, I leave you with the sign I thought was funny in the bathroom if only because I don’t think I’d ever see it at home!
