A month passed in Singapore

S: " Hi Wati, how's everything?. Sorry I've been very busy and haven't had time to meet up.
me: " It's okay. It rains a lot in Singapore.. :)"
S: " It's raining more than usual for July but at least no floods like in other countries"
me: " you're right. so how're you?..."
S: " too busy and tired. rushing to meet project deadlines. I might be near your apartment on Aug 6, maybe we can meet if you're free"
me: "ok."

So, our 1st month stay in Singapore had passed wonderfully despite some health concerns due to our body adjusting to the tropics weather again. Husband got some stomache upset last weekend, Annisa got a fever last night and she's also having a stomache problem, I took her to a medical clinic nearby and the doctor gave some meds, she's not feeling well yet, but I hope she'll recover soon .

Last Weekend, on Saturday I went to Geylang Serai wet market again in the morning, then went to take the kids to a birthday party in the same area in the afternoon.

Sunday, we took Annisa to Kinokuniya bookstore in Ngee An City, there's a french books section where we gave Annisa a treat to chose some books that she likes. Husband's french colleauges told him that we could find french books there as Kinokuniya also the book supplier to the french school in Singapore (Lycée Français de Singapour, located in Ang Mo Kio Ave. 3, just within walking distance from Husband's office in Serangoon North Ave. 5 and not too far from our apartment in Hougang St. 92.), after the bookstore, we continue our shopping spree in Orchard area ;)

Fairy godmother :)

What a better way to spend your day in a lousy weather than a bunch of good friends and a good cuppa?... today a fairy godmother make my wish comes true,

"Waktu hujan sore-sore... kilat sambar pohon kenari... " wuehehehe... kok malah nyanyi?, gue hepi banget... gimana nggak, ketiban rejeki nomplok tengah hari hujan begini. Kedatengan tamu, yang keduanya membawa hasil produksi rumahan-nya, yang satu produsen molen, yang satu lagi produsen pempek! waduh... langsung terbayang akan indahnya weekend, sejuk2 hujan ditemani molen panas habis digoreng atau pempek kenyal2 seger... betoel2 nikmaaaattt!!!!... Akhirnya, setelah tepat sebulan tamu2ku ini berkenan juga datang menengok, datengnya beserta gadis2 kecilnya yg rata-rata seumuran Annisa, jadi ibunya ngerumpi, anak2nya juga nggosip sendiri dikamar, walaupun bahasa mereka kadang ngga nyambung... hihihihi...

* Buat Hany & Iif, makasih ya sudah sudi mampir tempat gue dengan segala oleh2nya, lain kali kita ngopi lagi?...

Gloomy weather won't stop us to have fun!

Since a couple of weeks, Singapore skies were cloudy just like today.. but last night I planned to take the girls out, we all need a little break from the massive boxes that been lingering around the house these days..

We left home around 11 am and came back around 3 pm, it's quite a journey today. From Hougang Central we headed to Bugis Junction, I really like to eat that oh-so-famous Ketoprak that everyone talking about. The girls already had their lunch in Hougang Mall, and when we reached Bugis, Annisa said: "mamong, tu n'as pas encore mangé.." (mom, you haven't eat) .. what a caring kid she is, I felt touched and sorry for the hard times I put her into sometimes... she's an angel.. and I said, I'll buy something to eat first and then we all can go to her favorite place.

The skies became darker, and I knew it will pour a heavy shower anytime soon. We went straight to B1 level and looked for Kedai Kue Kue, we chose a table near the entrance. I ordered Ketoprak ~ another version of Indonesian salad with peanut sauce, its main ingredients are bee hoon, tofu, bean sprouts and lontong (rice cakes), tossed in peanut sauce, then garnished with slices of cucumber, crunchy crackers, and fried shallots. Ketoprak also known as a javanese theater.

I also bought 2 Teh Botol and 2 jar of kering kentang to take home. Annisa immediately asked for Teh Botol (Indonesian cold jasmine tea) when she saw it, she loves it and Nadia also took a sip and she seemed to enjoy it too! :D

Out from the building it was raining heavily, I told Annisa that we better take a taxi. It cost me S$ 10,50 to reach home. Oh well... we didn't go out like this everyday, so I guess the price was all worth it :)

Framed memory..

Here I am in Maman! (French magazine) way back when our first daughter Annisa's still a 9 months' old baby. Noo.. I'm not going to show off my "celebrity-ness" in France, I'm nobody, I'm an ordinary woman who has a full-time job as a mother of two lovely girls and a survived trailing-spouse to my husband.. it's just that I found this framed magazine while unpacking our things from the box. It makes me smile... and I showed it to Annisa (now almost 6 yrs old) and she laughed.

Boy... how time moves so quickly! now that we have another baby girl, seems like 6 years passed in a blink! Oh, I didn't want to scan the magazine, so I'm sorry the picture kinda blur... but I remember that day when a woman from the magazine called and I had a phone call interview in our tiny balcony while Annisa was taking a nap. I bought some of the magazine and sent them to my family and close friends and they're all really excited. It was in 2002 and we lived in a small city in Haute-Savoie, France near the Alpes, the city called Annecy. It's a beautiful and tranquil place, and it's where our first child's born.

Unpacking..

Monday morning the movers delivered our container from Geneva. When the packages filled up our apartment, the supervisor said.. "so many packages, gives a headache..." and I thought, why he complained about that?, it's us who supposed to having a headache, not him! he just deliver, unpack, put things where they should be, clean up the boxes and leave... it's not the first time they deliver such a big quantities of boxes, it's their job, no?

Okay, bit by bit we re-arrange our furnitures and looks like it isn't as bad as we thought it would be, we knew where to put most of things (the night before, we already draw a plan where one thing should be placed at the apartment), so the D day when the movers came, we only pointed out: this goes to there! and so on..

The place begins to take shape now, eventhough there are still some boxes left unopen yet, we just put them in the 3rd bedroom/study, the smallest bedroom in the house. While some boxes went to a storage room beside the washing machine (it's supposed to be an extra room for maid!, but we don't plan to have a live-in maid like most people do, so we use the room as a storage room.. oh! there's also an extra bathroom (toilet/shower) near that room and we still don't know what to use for...)

So, it's not so bad... just need a little care and tidying up, the place will absolutely fine. And the best thing of all, I have all that I need now including our coffee machine, so last night we can finally enjoyed a good ol' espresso again (a ristretto for husband and vivalto for me)... put your feet up, enjoy the nice cuppa any time.. it's heavenly.. and every boxes opened. they bring back our fond memory of the old place..

The 3rd weekend

On a Thursday afternoon when Singapore skies were grey and gloomy.. I SMS'd a friend,

"Hi, can I go with you on your next trip to a wet market?"
She replied: "Saturday. We meet in Paya Lebar MRT Station"
I replied: "what time?",
her reply was: "8 am, can you make it?"
I said: "I'll try".

On the rendez-vous day, I left home around 7 am, I knew I had to take a bus and changed MRT 2 times in Dhobby Ghaut then City Hall to reach the meeting place. I arrived at 7.56 sharp, great, it's not 8 am yet. I reached my mobile phone and got an SMS.. it's her: "sorry, I'll be 10 minutes late, had missed the recent MRT"... okay, I'll wait, and 10 minutes later I saw her with a big grin, "sorry", she said.

We went straight to the wet market nearby. "There it is" she pointed out a place with a blue rooftop. She took me to her usual kiosk, the one who sells original Indonesian spices, food (instant noodle, teas, sweet soy sauce, etc) and we bought 2 plastic-bag full of it. Next, it's a trip to a butcher and vegetable kiosk.

Finished shopping, she took me to the food hall to have breakfast. There we've met 2 other friends who's doing their weekly grocery shop too. The wet market reminds me of the one we have in Indonesia (Pasar Majestic) but it's smaller.

After finishing our breakfast we went home, she took a taxi, I took a bus number 51 to go to Hougang Central and took another bus to reach home. In the bus, I called husband and said I'm heading back home. He's already in the MRT with the girls going to Vivo City in Harbourfront.

I reached home, put all my grocery shop in the fridge and cupboard, changed my Tshirt (It was raining and I didn't bring my umbrella), and went out to meet husband and the kids. We had our lunch together in Sushi Tei.

Sunday morning, we went to the zoo. It happened to be the same time, Hany and her family went to the same place. We had a good time in the zoo and we've met new friends there too, they're Indonesian family, friends of Hany & Iwan's. Many thanks to whom who'd bought tickets for Annisa to enjoy the elephant and poney ride! :)

Every rose has its thorns...

Every fish has its bones.. ngomong apaan sih??... ini mantan bos gue yg ngomong dulu, kalo dimana2 (tempat kerja) pasti ada "duri" nya, gitu juga tempat tinggal, dimanapun pasti ada plus-minus nya... ya kan? kan? kan?..

Kemaren malem ngobrol sama suami, dia nanya gimana perasaan gue setelah hampir 3 minggu ini. Jawaban gue: "bosen.." yah, namanya juga baru pindah, belum ada kegiatan lain selain ngurus rumah & anak2, internet cuma bisa make malem, nungguin laptop dateng dr Geneve masih kudu sabar.. jadi bisanya minjem laptop sepulangnya dr kantor.

Mau jalan2 naik bis/MRT repot bawa anak2 & segala keperluannya. Mau naik taksi sayang duitnya.. sebetulnya kalo naik MRT thok, gue ngga masalah.. naik bis ini loh yg menyusahkan sekali, sibuk aja buka-tutup stroller, belum kalo hujan...

O iya, gue sempet kena alergi makan blood cockles (kerang darah).. langsung merah2 gatel gitu sekujur badan hari minggu lalu! sampe akhirnya Tata nelpon dokter jam 2 malem & gue disuntik.. wadawww!!! sakit loh! jarumnya segede alaihim! tapi langsung sembuh... yg bengkak gantian tagihan dokternya!! lha wong manggil dokter dr Raffles Hospital, 395 dollar mak! nggak lagi2 dah makan kerang.... kerangnya murah, tapi akibatnya bikin kantong kering :(

S$ 29 stroller

What am I talking about here??... remember the stroller-story I wrote in my previous post?.. well, this post still related to that one.

Saturday afternoon, we went out to collect a free LCD TV from StarHub in Funan Mall, we went there by taking a bus and MRT to Citty Hall. We took the same transportations to go back home, but when we wanted to ride the bus, we had to argue about the stroller again with the bus driver, and this time the driver was not too kind. Well, to make the story short... the next day, we bought a new stroller for Nadia, the one easier to carry and to fold out when we need to take a bus (which is very important now, as we have to ride a bus to the nearest MRT station).

Sunday afternoon, we met husband's old colleague friend to eat durian in Chinatown, and we told him the story about the bus driver and how ridiculous the law here sometimes... and he said: "well.. you know, they only want to show people, look.. in Singapore we have buses that designed specially for handicapped people, but we don't use it to carry them..." he smiled bitterly. I think he's right, if ever a handicapped person like to take a bus, do they need to fold out their own wheelchair as well????....

Lazy Town

No, Singapore definitely NOT a lazy town.. I'm talking about Stephanie's Lazy Town in the telly (Nick Jr.). I wonder where she's got all that energy! I might need her advice to boost mine as I feel tired most of the time since we arrived here.

I suffered a backache, joint and muscle pain and eventhough husband is trying to help me with a massage, it didn't help much. It won't heal my pain... so, today I decided to buy a medicine, a panadol to ease a joint and muscle pain... and god, it works wonder. My backache now disapeared :D

Now, where to go?... This morning I took the kids to Hougang Mall. We took a bus. Some bus drivers would let me go inside the bus without having to fold the baby stroller, but some drivers still ask me (nicely) to fold it. I thought... when the bus isn't full, and it has a disabled sign.. why should I fold the stroller?.. but I said "OK" to the driver anyway, in fact I just parked the stroller (with Nadia inside) in the disabled place then when we wanted to go down, I pushed the "disabled button" (the blue one) instead the usual button (red) to ask the driver to stop. I didn't care what the driver (or the passengers) think.

When it's time to go home , Nadia slept in the stroller, coincidentally we took the same bus again (and I think it's with the same driver..) and like before, I didn't fold the stroller, but this time the driver didn't say anything, he just smilled at me... (he must thought, "oh.. no.. that stubborn mom with her kids again..." heheh..)

I went to the post office in the mall, at 10.30 most shops still closed or just opened. I browsed the mall directory and found out there's a mother and baby clinic with 2 pediatrics practice. I need to know where I can check my baby weight and get her vaccinations jab. I might bring Nadia there.

The kids found some little things they like outside the mall (there's a stand selling stationeries from Sanrio, Disney, Winx etc) and they got themself a treat. Inside the mall, there's Delifrance café where I finally can enjoy a nice cappuccino again 1st time in 2 weeks! actually I liked to order an espresso, but the waitress looked surprised and asked: "that short one, ah?.. single or double shot?"... hmm?... I never had this kind of question when ordering an espresso in Paris or in Geneva, y'know.. in France, when you order a coffee ("un café") they will automatically give you an espresso.. now I mis my coffee machine so badly...

To make this place like home..

We tried our best to make our new place feel like home, I know it takes time.. and we must get used to the new environment, new weather, different people, different attitude. Our apartment still feels strange.. we love the place, but maybe because of all the furnitures that come with the house that make us feel that way.

The 2nd day on our arrival, we went straight to buy pillows, bed sheets, etc. and changed all the existing sheets, put up the shower curtains, clean the kitchen utensils and mop the floor.. and when some of our belongings arrived, I pull out some covers and rugs to spread in the sofa and our bare floor, but it just doesn't feel right quite yet... I still mis my fluffy sofa.

I cook everyday, seem like husband and the kids are enjoying eating at home more than eating out, it's always too crowded in the food courts, and we need to addapt our taste to the local food as well. Yesterday, a woman just do what it takes to get her orders faster when queuing for a drink in a Kopitiam at the shopping center across the street.. well.. some people.. and am I in Singapore now?, people usually know the law of queuing here, yes?..

Hhmmm... maybe I'm just tired... and think about the container that will arrive next month gives me a headache... where can I put my furnitures, when it's already furnished?.. anyone wanna buy some of our furnitures? I think I'll do a garage sale again soon.

Seminggu ditempat baru..

Ngapain aja kita udah seminggu ini di Singapore?... kemaren barang2 yg dikirim pake air shipment nyampe, "cuma" 8 paket sih, apa aja?... baby cot & matress, baby travel cot, 4 kantong, eh, buntelan berisi sprei, sarung bantal and baju2, 1 kardus kapsul kopi Nespresso.. yang mana ngga bisa dinikmati krn mesin Nespresso nya masih dlm container & baru nyampe bulan depaaaaannn!!!! whaaaa.... blo'on yak!

Gue sempet bersitegang sama suami semalem, karena sekoper barang2 yg mustinya masuk air shipment kok ngga ada! panik karena gue taunya koper tsb bakalan sampe kemaren & dlm koper banyak hal2 yg diperlukan disini PLUS Tshirt WE LOVE ROGER (Federer) titipan ibu Iif! bagian pengepak-an kan suami beserta the movers... yg tau list barang2 apa yg dikirim pun do'i, gue bagian penerimaan ngga dikoordinasi, ya jelas bingung.. dimana koper tsb berada! ya sutera.... tunggu aja kontainer nya nyampe dah.

Kemana aja nih kita?... berhubung bawa 1 bayi & balita, ya gue ngga bisa kelewat nekat menjelajah pulau kecil ini. Kalo mau ke MRT station terdekat musti naik bis tingkat nomer 72 yg untungnya di design buat disabled, jadi stroller friendly juga. MRT terdekat: Yio Chu Kang atau ke Hougang. Gue udah nyoba kemis lalu jalan2 ke Plaza Singapura sama anak2, lumayan pegeul juga....

Tapi untungnya (untung melulu dah) depan tempat tinggal kita ada shopping center yg cukup kumplit, ada Fair Price, tempat makan, Medical center, Clinic, toko2 kelontong dlsb... namanya kalo ngga salah Central Plaza Hougang. Ya gitu deh, pengenalan lokasi dulu aja... kalo kata suami, misalkan kucing/anjing.. nandain dulu (kucing/anjing kan suka pipis buat nandain tempat) kalo kita mah ngga boleh pipis sembarangan dong! mau kena denda apa?!?! hehehehe.....

Her 1st birthday

3rd July was Naddie's 1st birthday, and as we just arrived 2 days before her birthday, we're not fully recovered yet.. that day we only celebrate the 4 of us at home. I bought cakes (4 small pieces of different color, I bought in some bakery nearby).. and a candle I got from Ovomaltine several days before our departure.

It's Annisa who actually help Nadia blew up the candle though... the birthday baby ate the chocolate cake, Annisa chose the green cake, hubby got pink and I got white.. their cakes actually quite good, the kids enjoyed them much.

Happy 1st Birthday Nadia! you aren't a little baby no more.. :)

PS: Nadia teeth finally out now.. 2 small teeth.. very very small...

ARRIVED

Helloooooo....

We're all arrived in Singapore safe and sound.. well, a bit too tired actually and still having a jet lag.. but we're fine. We just have the internet line again.. just a view hours ago, a guy from Starhub came and install wireless internet line, TV cable, phone, etc. Unfortunately I still need to borrow hubby's laptop now, so I can't stay online too long. I'll get back as soon as possible, ok? do you miss me??... yes? no?... don't care? heheh, okay.... TTFN (ta-ta for now, geddit!)..