Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! Today I did what most women dread. I made my first solo Thanksgiving meal! Jamie was at a conference all day so I was completely on my own, without anyone to stir the gravy or even help chop an onion. To make matters worse I was attempting to do this in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so trying to find items such as marshmallows and yams proved to be a task in itself (as did looking for a turkey baster and a meat thermometer). I must say that not only is it stressful, but it's hard work!!

It's not that I've never participated in the making of a Thanksgiving meal, but usually I am a helper of sorts. A simple bystander that participates by chopping, making a pie or a side dish and the cleaning at the end. I have never been responsible for the main part of the meal. You don't realize how much pressure is involved when the entire meal falls on you! Thankfully the meal turned out great (Jamie would agree) and my first "solo" Thanksgiving meal was a success!

We continued our tradition of putting up our tree after dinner. Had you asked me last year I would have told you that I would never own a fake tree. It's one of the first things that come to mind when I think of Christmas. I LOVE picking out a Christmas tree. It's one of my most favorite things to do. I love the smell, the way it looks, and well, everything about it. To me the bigger the tree the better and every year I've been able to talk Jamie into getting a bigger tree than the year before.

This year we took a step backward and went for the 6 foot fake tree. I am a little disappointed that we don't have a real one but after careful consideration it was the best thing to do. Since we live on the 25th floor it would have been a pain to get it in and out of the service lift. Then there was the matter of not only getting it here, but finding somewhere to take it when we were done with it. Not to mention that you have to order your real one in advance and they are pretty expensive because they have to be shipped in. I could pick out any tree I could ever want back home and still not meet the cost of a real tree over here. So, we went with the more practical fake tree that can be used for the next couple years.

I hope this day finds you well and everyone is enjoying time with family and friends. I know for some of you the news of this past week is fresh on your minds and difficult to cope with. I first found out that there was bad news through a friends blog, but did not specifically know it was Leslie until I received an email. She was the doctor for the first patient I had on my own and when she realized I was finally by myself she was excited for me and kept telling me "don't worry this will be a good one, you'll do great". She was a respected physician and a wonderful coworker. My thoughts and prayers are with her husband and two beautiful babies as well as all of you who are affected by her loss.

Below I have attached some photos of the Singapore Open as well as a few from today. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that it is time well spent with loved ones. Enjoy your time while you can, you never know what the future has in store.

Jamie took these on Friday before I came out. The second photo is Phil (in the red) on the 1st green with the tee box for number 2 behind them (on top of the waterfall).

Jamie and I in front of the 9th green

Ernie Els in green (he was one of the leaders at this time) and Phi walking up to tee box (right after we took this photo I was told by Phil's caddie that I may want to put my camera up because they had been taking them away all weekend. Turns out that when they were finishing up round two that morning someone had taken a photo of him while he was in mid swing and it messed his shot up, so, he was not happy about the cameras being out at the tee boxes and his caddie was telling everyone to put them away).

My Thanksgiving table! As you can see I was exhausted! I look terrible! I spent all day making pies, stuffing and everything else that I forgot to go and pick up a center piece until it was too late! Oh well, maybe next year I can work on making it pretty!

Our little Tree! Not exactly my tree back home, but I didn't pack any Christmas stuff so I had to buy all new ornaments as well. It needs more lights, but since the light strands here do not connect at the ends I don't have enough plugs to put them all on there. So even though I bought five (and I wasn't sure that would be enough), three boxes will have to do until I come up with a plan for next year. (For whatever reason around here they usually don't put more than one plug outlet on a wall. We already have a multi plug in this outlet for the TV stuff so I didn't have much room to plug in lights) Who makes lights for Christmas trees that you can't plug the ends into each other??

My Luck has Returned

With all of the aggravation of the past few weeks (my job, taxi drivers etc) I can finally say that this was a good week. The golf tournament was fun and the weather (while we were out there) was good. I still need to upload the photos but I will post some when I do. The course was really nice and could have had some great views if it were not for all the construction and ships around the island. They sure know how to ruin a good view around here. Lucky for us Saturday was a good day because Sunday was not so good. The sling box decided to crash so Jamie was unable to watch football and was in a bad mood all day. Monday started the work week all over again, and it came and went with no big issues or experiences to brag about. It wasn't until Friday that things began to look up.

Friday afternoon I went down to one of the malls to get some stuff for Jamie when I happened upon some sort of show that was going on. There was a huge crowd, so I decided to hang around and check it out. A few seconds later a woman came around with tickets and asked if I had gotten mine yet. When I stated that I did not need one she told me it was for a drawing to win a prize so I should take it. Accepting her advice, I took my ticket and thanked her. A few minutes later, a man began to call out the ticket numbers. When he called out the first one it was not mine so I began to walk off, that is until he continued to call out more of them. After he called out his fourth set I realized it matched the numbers on my ticket! In all, there were 5 tickets that were drawn and this enabled us to go on to the next phase.

What was the next phase you ask? That was my question as well, seeing as though I arrived 1 minute before all of this began. The five people holding the tickets were called to the front where we were each given a box. On the count we all opened the boxes at the same time to see who had won the prizes which were
1) An all expenses paid trip for 4 to an exclusive beach in the Philippines
2) A pair of 1 1/2 carat diamond earrings
3) A diamond and Pearl necklace

and the last 2 were gift certificates for participating.

I opened my box and quickly did not see anything so I began looking around to see who had won. A girl 2 down from me had trouble opening her box so I figured it was the tickets, and it was (which was the prize I was hoping to get since I already had a pair of earrings). The girl to my left won the necklace so that left one more prize....the earrings. I did not see the last 2 people get excited so I was wondering "Who got the earrings?". That was until the girl to my right began to tap my arm and say "it's there! it's there!". It took a few seconds to comprihend, but after I realized what she was saying I looked down at my box again and there they were! A beautiful, shiny pair of 1 1/2 carat diamond earrings!! And they were mine!! I couldn't believe it! Since it was Friday afternoon everyone I know was working or they had other plans so I was alone, with no one to celebrate with, or take my photo, but when I looked down at the earrings I thought "oh well, they can see them later"! This was officially the biggest thing we've won. I think I was more excited than Jamie but he was excited for me. I think he was excited for a different reason though. He now knows that he does not have to upgrade my earrings for a little while longer!

Saturday wasn't as exciting but Jamie and I did buy a Christmas tree. It was a fake one, but I guess it will have to do. Thursday will now really feel like Thanksgiving, since this is when we usually put our tree up. That night we got another surprise as well. The sling box was fixed so we were able to watch the Clemson game and they won!! Who could ask for a better weekend?

Hopefully this week will be just as good. We hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and please think of me as you are doing your Friday morning shopping! One more thing I'm gonna miss out on =(

Weekend of Fun

This past weekend Jamie had a colleague from work in Singapore so we decided to show him around. They had a long week working on a big job so they were ready to "let loose" by Friday. I made reservations at what I thought was going to be this really cool ice bar. I got so excited when I called about it and they told me I would have to make a reservation to get in. I thought "Wow, if I have to make reservations this place must be really good". We know of a bar in Japan (In Tokyo I believe) that a friend went to during a short stay there that is completely made of ice. They even have suits you have to put on. His photos were so cool ( I wish I still had his web page to show you) and the concept was really neat. Since then Jamie and I have thought that it would be cool to find something like that. When I found this place in Singapore called "The Eski Bar" the photos showed the girls in these thick winter coats with fur around the heads and the ice wall in the back, so I thought "yeah, this must be like the other place we've heard about".

When we got there it wasn't even close. They did have one wall of ice as well as a small bar made of ice but that was about it. That room was called "the freezer bar" and it was the size of my closet in Houston. From there you went into another room that was the main bar area. It was cold in there, but not "sub zero" temperature like they implied. There were regular tables and chairs with boring, regular ole walls. I was very disappointed :( Not that it wasn't a neat place to see, but I had built it up in my head so much, that anything less than ice chairs and tables with glasses made of ice was just wasn't going to cut it! I did it to myself! So we stayed there, had a few drinks and a funky meat dip, then went to Clarke Quay (you may remember the name from another posting). (Below are some photos from Eski Bar. The last one of Jamie is in front of the ice wall)

Clark Quay (pronounced "key") is neat because it has lots of upscale restaurants and bars that are all themed. We started off at Clinic, which has wheel chairs and small hospital beds for chairs. They even have a signature drink that is served in an IV bag. From there, Jamie and Matt decided they were feeling a little adventurous and decided to try the extreme bungee as well as the bungee swing. (These photos were taken at Clinic)

Watching the two of them was freaking hilarious!! Matt thought he was going to die and Jamie was just along for the ride. I tried to take photos but of course my camera decided to die as they were going up the in swing. I got a few but since I knew I had limited time they were a little rushed and not as good as they could have been. On the first ride there was a camera in the cage with them so you could watch their reactions as it was going on. They were soo funny! Looking back I wish we would have purchased the DVD so that I could have uploaded it here for you all to see. Maybe next time! (These photos are from the first bungee ride. They lean you back, like in the second photo, and shoot you straight up. From there you turn as you are bouncing up and down)

After the excitement was over they were both ready for more drinks (after all they had a brush with death!!) so we ended the night at a place called The Crazy Elephant. What makes this place fun are the TV screens that have jokes on them. They are not PG so I will not include any of them on here.

The rest of the weekend was spent re-cooperating from Friday night. Today was the start of the Barclay's Singapore Open (the tickets I got Jamie for his birthday) so our weekend plans have already been made! I'll be sure to post some photos after our weekend of golf and relaxation!

What a day!

Since Jamie's birthday we really haven't done much. We spent the weekend hanging out around the house watching football and walking the dogs. Pretty exciting I know, but since I've started working I've been in a sort of funk. Friday I had a talk with my senior manager about how I thought things were going. I explained to her that I was not enjoying work and that we needed to come up with a solution if they wanted me to stay around. Wednesday morning she gave me some news that I did not agree with and at that point I tried to quit. She did not like my response and told me to wait a few more days and she would try to work it all out. So when I left Wednesday afternoon I was in an even bigger funk.

Which leads me to my real story. After I got off I gathered my things and went down to the taxi stand to grab a cab home as I always do. I guess that day I got in the wrong one and I myself had the wrong attitude. When I arrived at my place he gave me the total and I gave him my credit card.

Before I continue I have to give you a little back ground info on Singapore and credit cards. They hate them. Most places don't take them and if they do there is a 10% service charge on top of a 7% GST (a local tax). If you pay cash you don't have to pay this extra in most places. Other companies make you spend a minimum of $10 and still there are some that don't take them at all. Not all taxi companies take them if they do they tack on these extra fees. When you do pay with a credit card the drivers get mad because it's not money they can take home that day, the company pays them a week later. They will do everything in the book to get cash, yell at you, tell you they don't have a machine (when you are staring right at it), tell you it's broke, you name it. I can't tell you how many times I've been told off in Chinese because of this. Now back to the story...

So, I gave the driver my credit card. He mumbled something in Chinese, swiped it, and told me " It no work, you have to pay me cash". As I said, I was in a bad mood already so I told him "why, it says on your door you take credit" . It did state on his machine that there was an error, but he did not hit the clearly marked "credit card" button so of course it would say error. He proceeded to tell me it was not working. When I told him it was because he did not hit the button he began to yell at me (literally) and again told me I had to pay him in cash. I got mad and told him I didn't have any and he needed to figure it out. As you can imagine he did not like that answer and again yelled at me for another few minutes. I would have just gotten out of the car, but he was still holding my credit card so that wasn't an option. After he was done yelling I said " you figure it out, I don't have cash". His reply was "I'll call the police". With this I pulled out my cell phone and said "go ahead".

Instead he decided to drive me there. So, I spent Wednesday afternoon at the police station because my taxi driver refused to take my credit card and I refused to pay cash. All of this over a $4.00 taxi ride (taxis are really cheap here). I tried to explain to him several times that if his machine was broke (which is what he was claiming) that he had a duty to tell his customers when it was not working when they get in the car, not as they are paying. It clearly states on his door that major credit cards are accepted and it is not my problem if he does not give me the option to decline the ride otherwise. He did not agree, and said it was not his problem.

After 20 minutes of arguing in front of the police officer the driver stated that it was my card that wasn't working. When I offered up another one he got mad and walked out. Which made my point that the machine was working the entire time he just didn't want to take it.

So, I won. He left without his $4.00 and I called another cab to take me home, which I paid for with my credit card. I understand to most this seems like a silly argument to have, but when get got up and walked out it made me feel so much better!!!

I called Jamie afterwards and he told me he was glad I had won the argument but not to ever do that again! Guess he's afraid you guys may be watching the news and hear about some American getting lashings for refusing to pay for her taxi ride!

Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done but worth it!

Since then my luck has begun to turn around. This morning I had a talk with my managers and for now we've come to an agreement. Not quite sure if it will work out in the long run, but for now it will do. Work today was better than it has been so maybe my funk is almost over! I'll leave you with some more Singaporean medical terminology.

Plast - band-aid
Case Notes - chart
Trolley - delivery cart
Resus Trolley - baby warmer
Hypo Count - blood sugar
Clerk - assessment
Pluck - start an IV