The first few days... Carly's viewpoint

The linear thing to do would be to start at the beginning... how did we end up in Singapore?  How was our first visit to Singapore... but I'm not the linear one.  I need to jump right in and tell you what's been happening  once we arrived in Singapore on Saturday October 8th... or as the date is captured in Singapore (all of Asia?) 8/10/12.  I promise we won't bore you guys with a day by day account of the next 730 days, but I know some of you (okay, mainly our Moms) want to know everything... so here goes :)

The days before we got on our Singapore Airlines flight were so insanely chaotic (packing house into air, sea and storage, selling house, living in hotel with child and dog, visiting with family and friends, 2 year old birthday party, saying goodbye to Splenda) that I honestly don't think I truly registered that we were really gone (and all that meant!) until we got our luggage in the Singapore airport.  Suddenly it hit me.  It was exciting, but nerve-racking.  It was one thing for Rob and I to visit Singapore for a week on our "Look-See" but quite another for us to suddenly have our 2 year old in a foreign country that we know very little about... that's when primal instincts kick in... find shelter, food, and in 2012... a cell phone number.  

Day 1... After loading all of our stuff (5 giant checked bags, 6 carry-ons, 1 stroller and 2 adults and 1 toddler) into a giant van, we whisked away to our temporary apartment.  This was the first (of many, already) where Avery was riding in a vehicle with no car seat   As a suburban mom, this is a very new concept!  Obviously Avery thought this was the best thing in the world.  With no car seat, she could get an excellent view of her favorite type of vehicle- the numerous motorcycles zooming through Singapore... if the ride is any indication, Avery will love it here.  

massive infinity pool at Parvis

huge kiddie pool (one of 2-3)

The temporary apartment (Queens- 12 Stirling Road) is fine- the outside is awesome, great pools, playground, close to MRT (that's the train/subway here), but the inside is a little odd.  100% Ikea (hey I love Ikea, but it's truly bizarre, apparently Ikea really does sell everything), somewhat outdated, and a few odd odors.  We were so tired we barely cared, and the lackluster temporary apartment heightened the drama of our permanent apartment grand reveal.  At 10:30 our relocation rep (Roseanne from Australia) picked us up to go see our new apartment.  The apartment building is called Parvis (18 Holland Hill) and it is brand new.  To say it's beautiful doesn't do it justice.  We'll have more pics once we move in, but all I can say is that the back-and-forth of finding an apartment was worth it because we ended up in this fantastic place.  

After the apartment viewing, Roseanne (our consultant) took us to a local grocery store so we could procure the necessities.  I have to say, both Rob and I were nearly delirious and Avery was starting to lose it, so it's a wonder we got anything of use... but luckily the grocery store "Cold Storage" is the name of the chain, had a bunch of American brands (you can indeed buy Skippy Reduced Fat peanut butter AND Smuckers sugar-free grape jelly with Splenda... so we'll survive).   While pricey, a few comforts from home was worth it for our our foggy brains. Sadly, we later lost our coveted $8 box of Honey Bunches of Oats to a fierce invasion of ants, leading us to later start storing literally everything in the fridge. 

After another long nap, we checked out the pool at our temporary residence.  Avery had a blast- she's now dunking herself under water on her own and enjoys saying "kick-kick-kick" as she tries to swim.  We were super impressed and also made a note that she needs swim lessons asap or we'll be having heart attacks every time we go to the pool. And, to end our very first day in Singapore on a great note, we had a surprise visit from a fellow colleague who just move to Singapore.  Russ brought us some amazing treats- home made chocolate chip cookies, a cell phone to borrow and home made cards from his kids (including babysitting coupons- yes please!).  It was such a nice welcome!

Day 2-  The big accomplishment on Sunday was finally securing a local number.  I say "finally" because we had to visit multiple establishments, 2 malls and take multiple MRT rides to get a sim card.  Interestingly, 7-11 is the main place to go to buy a sim card or a pay-as-you-go "top-up card" for mobile phones and they are EVERYWHERE... so this should have been easy, but systems were down on Sunday.   We finally conquered our challenge by visiting one of the local cell phone service providers "Star Hub" and buying a sim directly from them.  I have to say, not having a cell phone is a very unnerving thing, even when your 2 miles from your home... so being nearly 10,000 miles away, securing cell service was a huge step for us!  Local number is +65 8117 4344 (fyi).

To summarize... in two days we secured the basics:  Shelter, food and cell phone number.  Congratulations to us!