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

Jamie's Birthday

This past Saturday Jamie turned the big 2-8!! To celebrate, I surprised him with a day in Sentosa Island. It's a small island near Singapore where the people go to "get away" from the "city life". It has beaches with bars and restaurants as well as some attractions. We took the cable car over from Singapore and once we arrived we visited the Butterfly Park and Fort Siloso, rode on the Tiger Tower, took the sky ride down to the beach and had lunch at a place called the Bikini Bar. We had a blast! Jamie has been so busy lately that it was good to have a full day to relax!

This isn't the best photo in the world, but if you look closely you will see a miracle! Jamie's first gift of the day was his first pair of flip flops. He has always hated flip flops! He didn't even like it when I wore them. Since we've been in Singapore he's begun to change his mind (mainly b/c people do not wear shoes inside their houses around here, there are even some shops that won't even let you wear your shoes so it's easier to have something that slips off) so I decided if I was ever going to get in into a pair I had to do 2 things. 1) Buy them while we were here and 2) Make sure I got a really good pair so they wouldn't look cheap (that's what he's always hated the most about them). So, here they are. If you've never seen a pair of $100 flip flops, here 's what they look like.

On the top is the view coming into Sentosa on the Cable Car. On the right is the view from the Tiger Tower. The big statue in the center of the photo is the Merlion attraction. The Merlion which is popular with Singaporean culture is a fictitious creature that is a lion head with a fish body. The lion head symbolizes the fabled beast that once roamed the ancient island state, and the fish body symbolizes Singapore's origin as a prosperous seaport.

The next photos were taken at the butterfly park. It was amazing how close the butterflies would let you get to them! The last one reminded us of a tiger, so we called it a "Clemson" Butterfly.

This last photo is a self portrait that we took taking the sky ride down to the beach.

For the most part it was a great day. I was a little disappointed that I was unable to get a birthday cake, but that is another story for another day. I will tell you that it ended with an order for a chocolate cake with butter cream icing and when I went to pick it up it was a chocolate sponge cake with no icing. The lady was not happy when I refused to accept it! The rest of his gifts included tickets to the Barclay's Singapore Open (Golf Tournament) held on Sentosa Island in the middle of November and a Bose Portable Speaker System for his IPOD. We had to have someone bring it from the States so it didn't arrive until yesterday.

So Happy Birthday to Jamie, who is now in his LATE 20's but is still denying it!!

Another Week

I am sad to say that I have survived another week of work,and not much has changed. I have learned a little, gotten aggravated a lot, and still have a long way to go. Hopefully it will get better with time! One of the things I have found amusing about working here is the different names for stuff. I would like to introduce you to some "Singaporean Medical Terminology"

Cot - baby crib
Jab - a shot
Drip - IV fluids
Passing away - Urinating
The Stick - an IV
The Sting - a UTI
The Chop - a stamp (here we have stamps with our names so we don't have to sign everything, you just stamp it and put your initials)

I have met some people at work who have been nice enough to take me out to lunch a few times to some of the "local joints". It's easier to try new things when you have people around who can tell you what it is! I think they have made it a goal to take me around to try all of the different types of local food around here. So far everything has been pretty good. I haven't tried anything crazy, but I have ventured out a little bit!

Jamie on the other hand went wild with some clients the other day and had the fish head curry! I know! Can you believe it? He said it was actually pretty good! Still don't think I'm there yet. Today at work I had a hospital orientation class to attend and they provided lunch. One of the items I had was fried rice. It was really good, until I noticed some bright blue dots in it. I began to dig around and found that the dots were eyes!! Yes, eye balls!! There were tiny fish cooked in with my rice. The more I explored, the more I found and suddenly I had little fish bodies with their little eye balls staring at me. Needless to say I felt sick for the rest of the afternoon. Jamie just laughed and gave me some advice.

"If it's good, don't ask what's in it and don't look to hard at it. Just eat it and relax".

Again, I'm just not quite there yet!

Guess I'm a working girl!

This week I was finally able to put my little white uniforms to work and I must say I looked pretty good in them! (sorry, no pictures j/k) It was a strange, trying week and thank goodness it's over! I knew that the hospital setting would be different in Singapore, but I was no where near as prepared as I needed to be. Even the most common sense, minuscule task are so much different. It's like being in another world. The policies, the procedures, even the scope of practice is way different than anything I am used to. I am constantly being asked questions about how it's done in the US, and I almost feel bad telling them about it because I know they just don't get it. Even with all of the problems our health care system has, I've realized that it's still a great one!

For the month or so that I have been here I can honestly say that I have not really been home sick once, but that all changed once I stepped into the hospital. I miss all of you from the FBC sooo much! I miss Amy's crack-in-a-bag (I mean chocolate bag), Pru's whacked out emails and videos, Kristen's "suck it up and get it done" attitude, Jennifer's never ending appetite, and well...I could write a book listing everyone! (so for those of you that I did not mention please know that I am thinking about you :) Julie, you will be happy to know that I have carried on the "Princess" name, as that is what some of the people over here think of me (I guess I learned from the best right!). I know that I am just going through a period of adjustment and It will take some time to get use to it, but I needed to vent a little. I think we are entitled to that every once in a while.

In the end I love what I do, so I don't think being in another country will change that. In a few weeks I'll probably be on here taking about how much I love it, right? Until then I hope everyone is happy and well!

Catching Up

I've fallen behind the last two weeks so it's time to play catch-up. The past couple weeks Jamie and I have started to do more touring and site seeing. Two weekends ago, we went to the 1st ever Singapore River Festival with some friends. We only attended the opening night for the lighting of the river (which for the most part was several of these boats floating around) but it made for a nice scene. The festival itself is two weeks full of music, drinking, and well...that's really about it. They do some shows as well but mostly drinking. They even had a floating bar and stage. The photo below is shortly after they turned the lights on. The building in the back is one of the many shopping malls. The area we were in was so full you can see the people lined up along the mall front watching the festivities.

I also had a chance to explore Little India with a friend. I must say that I have heard it's truely like being in India but since I have never been to India myself I can not confirm that. I will say that I sure wasn't in Texas anymore! Right now they are celebrating Deepavali (the word means "Row of Lights" and is celebrated all over by Hindus as an occasion symbolising the victory of righteousness over the dark forces of evil). At night the lights you see in the photos below are all turned on. Here they celebrate from Sept 20th to Nov 2nd, and have different functions during these months. The huge tent you see is filled with street merchants that sell everything from Christmas lights to handmade trinkets and keychains.

This past weekend Jamie and I went to the Botanical Gardens and spent the afternoon relaxing and walking around. There was so much to see I don't think we even got through half of it. I have been told that unless you want to spend the entire day, plan on going back two or three times. With all of the shopping malls you sometimes forget that a good part of Singapore is still rainforest.

We also made our first "Singaporean Purchases" this weekend. When I got here I was told that there are two things people who move to Singapore don't leave without. They are 1) Hand made carpets and 2) Teak Furniture. We purchased our first hand made carpet to go in our living room. It's a 5x7 silk wool blend and (as they are suppose to) changes colors depending on the way you look at it. We did not buy a piece of teak furniture per say, but we did buy this unbelievible hand carved wall hanging that is awesome!!! It is 3 ft by 3 ft and 2 inches thick, and made out of Burmese Teak. I am so excited about both, that I couldn't wait to show you guys. The photo of the carving doesn't do it justice, it's so much better in person.

Hope everything is going well for everyone and you are enjoying eating your "American Food"!! As you can read all is well here, although we are having a major craving for some Black Walnut!

Lessons learned

Jamie and I have been here for a little over a month now and we've had some time to explore. We've learned a lot about the lifestyle around here as well as the dos and don'ts. We thought we would share some of the stuff we've learned with all of you, as well as some photos we've taken along the way. Some of these are hard to read, just click on them and they will come up bigger.

Lesson 1
They love fines around here, Singapore is actually known as "the city of fines". You can be fined for almost anything. Not flushing in public $150 fine, not wearing your seat belt $150 fine, not picking up after your dog $500 fine... I'll let you see the others for yourself

Lesson 2
Follow the rules or see lesson 1. Every where you go there are signs telling you what you can not do. Some of them are so ridiculous. These do not have the fines listed, but I am sure they have some too.

Are you serious?? No where in America would you have so many people studying that you would have to put a sign up telling them not to do it.

The one on the right was taken at a McDonald's outdoor seating area.

Jamie thinks this means "No Alien Abduction". I think it means "Do Not Cross". Who do you agree with?

Lesson 3

When they say "Do Not Enter" they mean it!

You can find the sign with the gun all over the country. The one with the lighting bolt is a do not enter as well.. The words around it are "danger, do not enter" in different languages. The last one is a house around the corner from us. If you look at the top of the wall closely, you will see that he has a "Singaporean Alarm System"

Lesson 4
Watch where you urinate. You never know who's watching, or testing!

The first photo was taken in an elevator at a shopping mall.

Lesson 5

Try the local dishes at your own risk!

These photos here were taken at a "Hawker Stand' (local food court) near our house. This one is the most well known centers and where all the tourist go when visiting Singapore. They got mad that I was taking photos (surprise, surprise) but I managed to get a few. I have made the first one bigger, so you can click on it and read it a little better. Jamie and I have had the chili crab, it's actually not that bad. Still have not gotten up the nerve to try the fish head curry.....yuck!(Langridge, we're waiting on you to come visit to do that!!)

These last photos are just random photo's we've taken, some weird, some funny, enjoy!

Houston, take note. Simple solution to a complex problem. A few feet from this sign there is another one that says "No Illegal Foreign Workers Allowed". It was right by the guard gate so I was unable to take a picture.

Its not funny that they have the bags around, it's funny that they tell illustrate how to use them!

Drink Cup - Jamie calls this "Crack in a Cup". Every day at 3pm he gets the shakes and this is the only thing that will get rid of them. For 40 cent a machine will spit out a cup and fill it for you. It's suppose to be "cola" but it comes out of the same nozzle as the coffee and a local fruit drink.

These are the biggest snails we have ever seen! They were around the corner from our house. Surprisingly,escargot is hard to find on the menus around here.

Is it really that hard to write "Speed Bump"?