008

Contrary to the beliefs of some expats I've spoken to, there is life this far out West - ironically at Jurong East. J Cube mall, situated opposite Jurong East MRT, has become one of our favourite places to go when bored, as there is a ridiculous amount to do.  

It only opened a few months ago and is home to Singapore's first Olympic-sized ice skating rink, as well as a Shaw Theatres cinema with several screens and an IMAX. Although we've not experienced the normal screens, we absolutely loved watching the Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX, mainly raving about how cheap things were in comparison to the UK, unusually for here (a large popcorn and drink was £4, bargain).  

Dotted around the ice rink are various shops, boutiques, Cold Storage and a million restaurants, including Chilis, Nandos, The Old Manhattan Fish Market amongst others. We didn't particularly enjoy the Fish Market and felt really rushed out of there, although Nandos wasn't too bad - good to go to when you fancy something a bit different to rice or anything from the hawkers. 

Word of warning - mainly due to the ice rink, J Cube is a LOT colder than a "normal" mall, so a couple of extra layers might be needed. So there we go, proof that there is actually something to do out in the sticks!

Nade x

007

The One With the Birthday. Week 3 in Singapore was marked with everybody's highlight of the year....my birthday. After the most incredible 21st two years ago, I just assumed that any birthdays since would be a little underwhelming. But this one has been a LOT of fun. 

Thursday night, I met some of the girls for drinks at Overeasy at One Fullerton - Happy Hour 1+1 on all beers, wines and spirits meant that we ended up pretty drunk. Having not eaten, I call James on the MRT home & ask if he can get me McDonalds delivery (yes, they deliver here. Best. Ever.) So I ended up seeing in my 23rd with a double cheeseburger, several cards & a very cute little cake! 

My actual birthday was spent generally lazing around, sunbathing & being a bum, before getting ready to go to the surprise restaurant that J had booked. Which turned out to be Sky on 57 at Marina Bay Sands hotel - possibly the best all-round restaurant I've ever been to.

Very photo heavy post, I do apologise! But the food was incredible - I highly recommend the scallops - and the view speaks for itself. We were lucky enough to see the light show, that they put on at Marina Bay Sands every night, from a completely different perspective. 

I'm one lucky girl & have been well and truly spoilt this weekend. Other not-so-bright highlights of the week have included copious amounts of job hunting and holiday planning - I've enjoyed the latter far more than the former! 

Nade x

006

If this was a Friends episode, it would probably be entitled "The One With The Rant". I like a good rant/moan. Most people who know me know this. It's even on my Twitter bio. But I was determined to not moan about Singapore, but it's got to the point, nearly 3 weeks in and at 00.30am that all I want to do is moan.

Now I love the freedom that Singapore brings me - the different types of food, shopping, chance to explore different cultures and travel, amongst other things. And despite trying to prepare myself, I didn't think it would be this difficult to get a job. I genuinely convinced myself that it might be a bit easier as I already have a work visa in place - no red tape or having to apply for stuff, I can just rock up & start work. But no, countless applications in and literally one reply. It was ridiculous how excited I was to actually get a rejection email - this is how bad the contact is.

Yes, I do get to lie in, sunbathe, swim, explore, meet friends and generally do what I want most of the time. But this comes with the backdrop of not having the security of knowing your next pay packet will drop into your account at the end of the month and the general feeling of laziness/unemployed guilt. After two months off work, I'm dying for the opportunity to have routine in my life, something to do and a feeling that I'm progressing. The only thing that's progressing so far here is my tan and my frustration at not working! 

Of course there's probably more I could be doing and I'm trying to not get to disheartened about it all, as that just puts off actually applying and can become a bit of a Catch 22. Speaking to other "trailing spouses", they are in similar positions, albeit without a visa in place - although they do have much more experience than I. 

So this week, the CV is being updated, re-hashed, extended and aimed to more of a Singaporean job market. I'm spending part of my birthday weekend going to a career's fair and I'll call some recruitment agencies rather than email them. Plus another fifty or so tailored & detailed application. And if I still can't find a job...then at least I'll have a decent tan.

Nade x

005

From Chinese Garden to Chinatown! Contrary to popular (James') belief, I've not been spending my days in bed watching back-to-back episodes of Geordie Shore (I might have done it once...), I've been off out exploring new bits of Singapore. 

After the disaster that was the haircut, which I can only describe as a side mullet with random long bits and then the rest short layers, forgive me if I was a little apprehensive about heading to Chinatown - every time I seem to go out these past few days, drama of some sort seems to be happening to me.  As an update to the previous post with the dodgy stamp in the passport, it turns out I've got 90 days on a tourist pass, so my run of bad luck seems to have changed!

I headed over to Chinatown to meet a couple of girls who are living here/in a similar situation to me and we definitely made the most of the free time. The afternoon was pretty much spent drinking massive bottles of Tiger beer, lots of Chinese food & shopping for really cute, cheap summer dresses. I picked up 3 dresses for about £11, total bargain. 

Although James and I have mainly been eating at the local hawkers' markets, we have been branching out now and again to more Western food, with mixed results. Currently sat here with a massive Dominos feast in front of us - not the best Dominos I've had, that would be back at Leeds with my boys & the famous Two for Tuesdays. On Wednesday, we headed to J Cube to The Manhattan Fish Market to satisfy my seafood craving and I was pretty disappointed.

Seafood platter was pretty dodgy and I don't think we realised everything would be deep fried! So that restaurant is off the list! Weekend-wise, I think tomorrow may be a pool day and we have tentative plans to go for brunch on Sunday (brunch is my favourite meal of all-time and a classic Singaporean thing to do). Sunday is also marks Eid-al-fitr or the end of Ramadan, so I'm assuming everywhere will be packed! Next week is looking busy; more drink dates, a trip to the Harry Potter exhibition, Gold Class cinema viewing, a hot date on Friday and a big works party on Saturday - it's shaping up to be a pretty good birthday week!

Nade x

004

Note to self: discover the Singaporean hairdressing term for "for the love of God, please NO more layers!" Now, I'm not really fussy when it comes to my hair - I have no loyalty whatsoever and will pretty much go to the place with the best deal. Yet I'm now kind of regretting my blase attitude in Singapore. 

To be honest, this whole afternoon has been verging on disaster. I go to book a squash court for James to play his boss & I'm told that I can't as I'm not a resident. Now bearing in mind, you're not really allowed to be on the premises without being a resident, that seems a little strange to me. The bloke refused to let me prove that I'm a resident - the only way is to apply for a resident card and pay S$10. 

I then decide to give up and get some food. Thought I'd be pretty healthy and order a chicken salad....which turned out to be a plate of spicy fried chicken. And pretty bad fried chicken at that. And then came the hair...

Walking round Jurong Point mall, I come across this pretty decent looking hairdressers and ask for a quote to fix some dodgy sun highlights and a general trim. She took this as "I want my hair cut right now" - probably should have run at this point, but £45 for half head of highlights and a cut sounded pretty good. No problems with the highlights, sliiiiight problem with the cut.  In that she just decided to cut it without asking me how I wanted it. When I told her that I only wanted a small bit off, she told me she could only cut it one way. And then proceeded to blow dry it into some sort of 80s Dynasty hairstyle. 

It's not looking too bad now I've actually washed it myself - slowly coming to the conclusion that I'm not going to end up looking like Kate Middleton's hair twin (speaking of which, her & Will are popping over in September, so exciting!) 

Hair rant over, I've spent most of the past couple of days here, basking in 34 degree heat....

Tan is progressing well - if the job hunt completely fails, at least I'll have a good tan. Tomorrow, I'm off to the immigration people, as the stamp in my passport that should tell me how long I'm allowed to stay in the country for is completely smudged over one vital word - the actual number of days. Never know, I may have to continue this "Singapore" blog back at home...

Nade x

003

Today marks my first full week anniversary of being here and I STILL feel like I'm on holiday and going home in the next couple of weeks. Mainly because all I've been doing is sleeping, sunbathing, swimming, eating and shopping.

 The job hunt is slow and boring - nothing more disillusioning than applying for tons of job with not even an email to say REJECTED. It's difficult as most jobs here want you to be a permanent resident, speak Mandarin or have 3-5 years of filing experience for a receptionist role. Seriously. And even though I already have a visa in place, noone seems to want me *sad face*

Anyway, apart from meeting up with new people and exploring the city, planning a list of things to do while I'm still unemployed and swimming a ridiculous amount a day, we've mainly been eating. We're lucky that we live between two hawkers centres, which are ridiculously cheap to eat in and have quite a selection of Chinese/Indian food. The price also makes us feel less guilty for eating out every night (although when I look at our kitchen and the fact we need to uy a gas bottle to make the hob work, I'm not that bothered about not cooking). 

So this is your typical hawkers centre. Complete with Singaporean soaps on the TV - we watched 5 minutes of a guy being hit by a broom. You basically choose which stall you want to eat from, pay your £2-3 and sit on any of the free tables. The woman in blue is a drinks/napkin lady who comes round and takes your drinks order. 

This is definitely his *let me eat* face.

Today (Thursday) is National Day, where Singapore is celebrating its 47th birthday. It's also a public holiday, so I've got a feeling that the pool/MRT is going to be busy! Almost definitely going to end up by the pool...

Nade x

002

So we've spent the past couple of days lazing around, eating, shopping, swimming...not too bad at all! James had to work Saturday morning, so my plan was to hit the gym - except I ended up sleeping in and only woke up when he came home! 


We spent the afternoon cleaning, napping and watching the Olympics - I keep calling him over to look at something on my laptop and every time I show him the medal table with Team GB 3rd overall and Australia 19th! Every time he falls for it and walks away muttering something about "silver medals". Due to the time difference, I'm missing a lot of medals over here and the TV only shows Chinese and Singaporean athletes, but I'm managing to watch it on the BBC website, so getting my fix! 


Saturday night, we ventured out to Clarke Quay for some dinner and drinks. It's so different to where we're living, very expat and Western-oriented - it even has a Hooters! We went to Brewerkz for steak and beer, before meeting a friend who was travelling through Singapore on transit for cocktails and sushi. 

Obviously very excited about steak!

Today has been even more lazing about while James studies for his Masters. Went to the local hawkers centre for lunch and got a massive container of rice, sweet and sour pork, black pepper pork and mixed veg for £3. And then off for a swim later, managed 800m last night (obviously channelling Becky Adlington - took me about 3 hours longer than her, but it's a start!) 

Tomorrow, I'm planning on going halfway across the city on the MRT and checking out the famous Orchard Road for shopping! Wish me luck! 

Nade x

001

Day One in Singapore and I'm suffering from the worst jet lag I've had in a while. It's currently midday and I'm doing everything in my power not to go back to sleep again (this means being sat up in bed in my pjs, but you know).

Serves me right for being cocky with my easy flight - whole row to myself one leg & spare seat second leg - but didn't capitalise and sleep (rookie error). Watched the entire first and only season of Alcatraz and 17 hours later of travelling, we got back to the flat. Welcome to our new home for the next few months! 

I'll get a few pictures of the actual flat itself once we've managed to completely clean it and put everything away. Currently living out of a suitcase, it's all fun and games! But "home" for now is a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo close to Chinese Garden MRT. 

 Yesterday, I picked up an MRT card (pretty much the same as an Oyster card where you just swipe on and off the metro and it subtracts the fare from your card) and we headed to Boon Lay to pick up a few bits and pieces for the flat. Trying to get 4 pillows and a doona through a tiny little metro turnstile was interesting! We live in between 2 big hawker centres, so we had dinner sat outside on plastic chairs. 2 massive plates of rice, Chinese pork and beans came to £2.70 - pretty much had to be carried home and passed out with exhaustion.

So today, the plan is/was to get out and explore, but this jet lag means all I want to do is curl up and watch Singaporean Olympic coverage. Previous experience tells me that it's going to take me a good week to get over this...or however long the Olympics lasts! 

Nade.