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

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