Singapore Art Museum

Before we moved here, I had been to Singapore a few times on my way in and out of Jakarta. I would spend a few days (tops) here, eating and shopping. I never ventured much out of Orchard, and really didn't know Singapore very well. My impressions at that time was that Singapore was a very cool, clean place, with great shopping- and that's about it. When we learned of Derek's acceptance to NUS and started planning for our big move, a part of me was worried that we would get bored in Singapore. I had talked to a few people who had lived, visited, and worked here. Many of them said that there was not much to do in Singapore but shop and hang out in malls. It sounded somewhat dull to me.

After having moved here, I must say that those people were incorrect. There is so much to do in Singapore- no matter your lifestyle. For us, having moved here with a 10-month old, the locations we hit are generally kid-friendly destinations. There are so many options for outings with kids here, both indoor and out. Today we hit up the Children's Art Garden Exhibit at the Singapore Art Museum. The kid-friendly exhibits were really fun for Dewi, even though she was a little young for some of them. She really enjoyed putting stickers on the elephant exhibit, attempting to make a pear origami, inspecting papier maches, dressing up a cake with velcro fixins, and running around the courtyard. No outings with a toddler is complete without a tantrum or two, so unfortunately we didn't get to look at the adult exhibits today. Next time!

Dewi's First Taste of Fame

Check out Dewi's photo in the local Chinese-language daily paper. Her daycare just instituted a new curriculum (yes, for pre-schoolers) and media were on hand. Seriously.

6 Months in Singapore

Time has really flown by. This past week, we celebrated the 4th of July in our new home, and we toasted to having lived in Singapore for 6 months.  It seems just like yesterday that we were packing up our lives and moving out here. Now we are quite settled in our new home and our new city. We've been pretty busy the past two months, with a trip back home, moving Dasher to Singapore moving to a new apartment (we love Holland Village and aircon!), having family in town, moving Dewi to a new daycare, and getting to know our neighborhood. Some snapshots of the past two months:

Hort Park

Derek's Birthday & Nutella Cake

Flying home in style

Dewi's favorite playground in DC

Hanging out in Grandma Cindy's yard

The view from our bedroom in the new apartment

Clarke Quay (Marina Bay Sands in the background)

Dasher & Dewi are best buds

After brunch at Dempsey Hill

The Botanic Gardens (a quick bus ride from our new home)

Yes, Dewi, dragons do exist

This afternoon as we were walking back on to campus from an awesome outing at Vivo City, we saw several fellow Prince George's Park residents standing near the gate, one or two with cameras, staring at the patch of trees that line the fence. Must be someone posing for an end of the semester picture, or maybe a pretty bird.

No, it was the damn scariest wildlife I've encountered in a long time. It was a Malayan water monitor, maybe 4 feet long from nose to tail, just creeping around and "smelling" for prey with his tongue. Now, I grew up in the Badger State, and so encountering a badger might scare me more, but this lizard looked like he could walk away with Dewi if he were so inclined. I've since learned that they're more scavengers than hunters, but he probably does feast on the smaller lizards and other wildlife that is pretty abundant here.

They apparently can live in canals (of which there are many on the island and even on campus), and can do saltwater or fresh (both are close), and can climb trees (got lots of those). I don't think I'd feel much better seeing something that big up in a tree as opposed to on the ground. Anyway, allegedly they are more prone to hide than fight if provoked, but, uh, what constitutes provocation, and are we talking 51/49 flight vs. fight, or are they really passive animals? Regardless, I will be carrying Dewi in my arms anytime we step outside the gate. Somehow I don't think the dragon would respond kindly to a giggling toddler staggering over to pet it.

Wah yo smah keh?

We've been regulars at a little kopitiam since we moved to Prince George's Park four months ago. Before Karina started working, we were going in every morning when the stall opened at 7:30, Dewi in tow, to have two kopi-o's and some little cakes or curry puffs.

Since March it's been more of a weekend treat, and we've since moved on to iced kopi tarik, which is, to put it mildly, the best coffee drink on campus. The one constant over these four months has been the proprietor, always there to greet us, getting his stall opened up, giving orders to his staff, and sometimes having us try his latest concoctions. Dewi has been the beneficiary of countless little treats in his effort to win her over (he has succeeded, by the way).

But for all the interaction we've had over these months, we still can't understand him for the life of us. Now it's no secret that Singlish is distinct from English, and for those natives who spend most of their time speaking Malay, Chinese, Tamil or something else, their Singlish becomes even more of a hodge podge.

Anyway, the other day I went in during the week, solo, to get an iced kopi tarik and a chicken ham bun for breakfast.

Proprietor to me: "Wah yo smah keh?"

My interior monologue: "Why am I smoking? Do I look or smell like I've been smoking? That doesn't make sense... um, what else? Why you small cake? Does he think I should have a bigger breakfast?"

My response: "No, thanks, this is enough for me right now."

Proprietor, puzzled, pointing but not helpfully: "Wah yo smah keh?"

My interior monologue: "Oh, he's trying to get me to try those new little cakes he has on display. They look like old birthday cake. Stall...stall..."

Proprietor, a little impatient: "Yo smah keh."

My interior monologue: "I'm not gonna try that cake. I don't know what the hell he's saying. Wait... small kid? Where... your... small... kid? Is he asking about Dewi? Yes, that's it!"

My response: "Oh, my small kid! She's at daycare."

Proprietor: "Ah, with mama."

Me: "Um, no. Daycare... down the road."

Proprietor: "Ah, at home."

Me: "Yup, ok, thanks, see you soon."

The details just didn't seem to matter. He seemed satisfied that "smah keh" was being cared for while I was gallivanting. I was happy that I solved the puzzle without the benefit of having already had my morning kopi. And this morning our smah keh finally high-fived him after at least a month of repeatedly leaving him hanging. Progress...

4 Months Ago Today

4 months ago today we were on a plane from LAX to Tokyo to Changi, making our way to Singapore for our big move. Derek had just left the working world, ready to be a student again. Dewi had started crawling, and had just said goodbye to her nanny-share nanny and buddy. I had just wrapped up all my work at WEAVE, and was about to start life as a temporary stay-at-home-mom . We had just cleaned our house from top to bottom and re-painted for our renters, sold off all of our furniture and household goods, packed up most of our items, made several Goodwill runs, and said goodbye to DC. We had just spent Christmas with Derek's family in Wisconsin, then New Year's with mine in California. We had just said goodbye to family and friends and were on our way to Singapore...just the 3 of us.

Here we are, 4 months later in our new city, and the feelings of being nomads are slowly going away. I have started a great new job, Derek has handed in his last paper of the semester, and Dewi is growing and excelling every single day at her daycare and at home with us. She is walking everywhere, and loving her newfound freedom, saying new words, dancing to new songs, and delighting at every single piece of her new walking world. We are moving off campus to our own apartment next month, we are prepping for our first visit back home, and we have visitors coming in the next few months. We have taken the MRT and buses everywhere, tried out restaurants recommended by foodie friends, had our full (often too full) share of hawker food, gone to parks, museums, friends' homes, and relaxed at home in our teeny apartment. Life is good, and best of all- we have at least 3.5 more years of exploration to do in our new city. Life is good.

At Jurong Bird Park

Singapore's Parks & Other Side Outings

For many tourists, Singapore is well-known for its food and shopping. Maybe even the zoo. But not many people know of all the parks in this little city-nation. For the past few weekends, we've had occasion to explore some of them and we have many more to visit! We already wrote about the ever-so-beautiful and expansive West Coast Park in a previous entry. It has a couple of great playgrounds f, it's right on the water, it has a big off-leash dog park, a mangrove, a bicycle obstacle course, and beautiful flora.

No idea what this statue represents

The park closest to us is Kent Ridge Park. Last weekend, we walked for about twenty minutes to its northernmost entrance, and explored the stroller-friendly portions of the park. We heard lots of birds and other animals, and walked through a shaded footpath.

No choking the birds at Kent Ridge Park

If you are a loan shark who charges people exorbitant rates, you will get thrown onto a hill of knives

Since Dewi fell asleep in the middle of our outing, we decided to walk our way home through Pasir Panjang Village, a small restaurant/retail area close to where we live (also home to one of our date night locations, Hoo Ha Cafe). After the Village, she was still asleep so we walked through the former amusement park by our home, Haw Par Villa. There is no other word to describe this place, but "strange". It has free admission, so our curiosity got the best of us. Singaporean friends had informed us that they used to go on school field trips to this place, before all the amusement park rides shut down. Now, it is an interesting place to see, though it's not very well-maintained. The most memorable part of Haw Par Villa is the "Ten Courts of Hell" exhibit. You walk through a dark cave with dioramas of horrific torture scenes for various sins one may have committed during their life. Not recommended as an outing with your grown kids who may be traumatized after viewing this exhibit. 

Labrador Park

Today we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at Labrador Nature Reserve. We'll have to come back to visit the other parts of the park, but the playground area by the water is beautiful and scenic. Dewi loved watching the waves crash onto the rocks. Though the start of the morning was hot hot hot, once the sun went away and we spent time in the shade, we were able to cool down and enjoy our surroundings.

You Can Stand Under My Umbrella

Derek sent me on a mission the other day, to find him a big and sturdy umbrella to weather the rain storms in Singapore. Apparently the cheapo and compact umbrellas that you buy at the Buona Vista MRT didn't cut it. One gust of wind and that was the end of that umbrella. On a lunch mission,  I stood there awhile admiring the choices:

1. The Sword Umbrella
2. The Gun Umbrella
3. Your good plain, brown, umbrella

Since Derek does the daycare drop-offs and pick-ups, I figured #3 would be the best option. So I left with the boring umbrella.

WARNING ALERT: Mischief to Property

This popped up in my inbox the other day, and made me smile. After all, an act of vandalism back in 1993 put modern Singapore "on the map" for many Americans. This e-mail makes no mention of a mandatory butt-whooping, but I'm pretty sure martial artists are on hand, with canes, to mete out punishment...

WARNING ALERT: Mischief to Property

1. There has been a rise in the number of cases of mischief on NUS premises and property. The act of graffiti writing and drawings in toilet cubicles, staircases and on study benches had been reported.

2. We would like to take this opportunity to caution and remind the NUS community on the severity of committing such acts of mischief, which apart from being unsightly, is also disruptive and causes inconvenience to other users.

3. According to the Law, any person who commits any act of mischief shall be liable for a conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 1 year, or with fine or with both.

4. We advise all staff and students to be alert and report anyone behaving suspiciously or committing such acts to Campus Security at 6874-XXXX, or the police at 999. OCS will take action against anyone found committing the offence.

Parent-Teacher Conference

Yesterday I attended our first "parent-teacher" conference. It was actually a cookie-decorating event for parents at Dewi's daycare, but they told us that it was also an opportunity to talk to the teachers, get feedback on how your kids were doing, etc. etc. So I called it a "parent-teacher conference". Since Derek usually does the pick-up and drop-off at the daycare, I really looked forward to seeing Dewi in her new element. When I arrived there, she was sitting in her high chair eating pancakes with one or two other kids. She was so happy and giddy and started feeding me pancakes right away.

When it came to the cookie-decorating, while all the other kids sweetly sat there and let their parents decorate their cookies, Wi wi was flipping over the paper plate, grabbing cookies and chomping them left and right, smearing the sugared frosting all over her face, stuffing marshmallows in her mouth, and feeding me fruit loops. It was pretty funny. I had fun observing her in the soft-play area, as she butted heads with another girl like they were bulls, and as she let a boy kiss her over and over again on the forehead (this is Singapore, after all- gotta be bashful and very careful with your choice of PDA!). Dewi's teachers shared that for the first few days she sat back and observed her surroundings, not really interacting much with the other kids. After that, she happily played with the others and freely creeped around the room. She's also started to go back to her 2 naps a day instead of 1, and even on the days she only naps once, she is enjoying herself and not wanting to miss a minute of fun. In fact, I was told that she sometimes shouts loudly so that another kid will wake up and play with her. Interestingly enough, Derek shared with me last week that Dewi actually cried when she had to leave the daycare and not the other way around (which has only happened once since we started).

Dewi definitely looks happy in her new surroundings, and we're really happy that we chose to send her to this particular daycare. The teachers are all so sweet and patient. She has both Mandarin and English-speakigng teachers. The place is super clean and comfortable. She loves the other kids in her class, and they also have a pretty awesome menu of food that they prepare and feed their children. I'm pretty sure that in a D.C. daycare she wouldn't get to eat chicken porridge and kway tiao. In a few months, we hope to move off campus and into a nearby condo. Our plan is to still keep Dewi at this daycare, but we may have to see how things go. We're really getting settled here and are loving our new home.

Anthony Bourdain's Thoughts on Singapore

Since I now have some time to read on the MRT to and from work, I have just finished Anthony Bourdain's "The Nasty Bits". I normally am not a short story fan, but this one was a great read. The book is filled with Anthony's culinary adventures around the world. It is pretty damn funny and makes you want to eat, travel, eat, and travel. Some great excerpts:

1. On the indoor and outdoor weather in Singapore (so true):
"My first time in Singapore, I hated it. The heat punched me in the chest every time I stepped outside,a  thick, penetrating humidity made worse by relentless broiling sun. Three-shower-a-day, change-your-clothes-at-noon kind of heat; whenever I ducked inside for a beer, the bars were refrigerated, with locals happily sipping Tiger beers in their T-shirts in the bone chilling, meat locker cold."

2. On food courts:
"This is what a food court should be, I thought, as I waddled toward the door. Imagine if there was a food court near you, at the mall, for instance, where instead of the soul-destroying mediocrity and sameness of American fast food, a wide spectrum of ethnically diverse lone proprietors- all of whom had been perfecting their craft for decades- offered up their very best. Imagine independently owned and operated businesses next door to each other, each serving one specialty as far from and different from the adjacent offering as each individual culture. Imagine- if fast food could be good food."

3. On food ratings:
"Eateries are graded not with stars or number, but by rice bowls signifying 'good', 'very good', 'excellent'- and the Singlish 'Don't try, regret ah!' and the ultimate accolade, 'Die, die must try!'.

Baby Got Back?

Since my office is in a somewhat industrial and isolating part of town, we have lunch shuttles that take us to nearby food centres (as you can see, my spelling is already turning British/English- this is confusing for my 7th grade spelling bee champion self). Sometimes the lunch shuttles go to a mall, and sometimes they go to a good ol' hawker centre where you can buy cheap local food and run quick errands in the nearby stores. The other day, while browsing through a food centre complex, one of my coworkers pointed out a display of padded underwear. I had never heard or seen this phenomenon before, but there was quite a selection and it was pretty affordable. I have no idea why anyone would want to purchase these, but there it is, for those who strive to have JLo butts.

Botak Jones

Since we've arrived in Singapore, I've been craving for a big, fat, juicy burger. Of course the best burger in the world is an Inn N Out Burger, followed by Five Guys, and then other decent restaurant burgers available at many locales. Today, on a really hot day, after a long outing to the bank, we searched for Botak Jones (translation: Baldy Jones) a burger joint recommended by a friend of mine from the mom's group. I ordered a Thai Chili Burger with Spicy Fries. It was AMAZING. Definitely worth the walk in the heat and the crying baby. And a decent grade patty too. Best of all, this place is hidden in the middle of a hawker center at the center of an HDB complex. Which means it was definitely affordable. Next time I am ordering their chili fries.

Dewi's First Day of School...errrr Daycare

Here is a pic from Dewi's first day of daycare. She's been there for almost a week now, and Derek picked her up today to see her smiling, clapping, and having a ball with the other kids.

Pulang Kampung

We've just returned from a lovely 6-day vacation to Jakarta. For Derek, it was his fourth trip to Indo. For Dewi, it was her first. Dewi met most of her family at her first birthday. Our master event planner was my cousin, Cheryl. She did such an amazing job from picking a very fun venue, to decorating the party area. We had the party at Tamani Kids Kafe in Kemang, a really cool place with a big play area for kids that catered to both crawlers and older kids. Dewi absolutely loved it there. She crawled around the soft play area, and hung out in the ball pit with her second cousins. She was ecstatic the entire afternoon, happily babbled in the long car ride home, and immediately passed out as soon as we got home. Other notable things we did this week were:

1. Drinks with Mira & friends to the 3 House, a very cool rooftop bar that reminded me of KuDeTa in Bali.
2. Birthday lunch with my girl cousins at Din Tai Fung at Pondok Indah Mall
3. A birthday night out with Mira (my ultimate nightlife and foodie guru) to Social House in Grand Indonesia (seriously, these malls keep getting bigger and more luxurious)
4. An afternoon at the spa with Derek to get massages and creambaths (scroll towards the bottom for the description and warning: Derek's hair still smells like chocolate so whatever you do, don't get the chocolate kind. By all means "splurge" for the hair spa treatment) followed by lunch and cocktails at Potato Head at Pacific Place.
5. Eating amazing cheap local ribs at this awesomely cheap place that shall remain nameless for the sake of keeping the prices low for our next visit.

Now we are back in Singapore and had a lovely afternoon at a friend's pool party. This coming week starts our new routine of my going back to work and Dewi going to daycare. Wish us luck!

Sometimes you need a little slice of home...

A wonderful new friend in Singapore invited us to brunch today at this cute restaurant called PS Cafe in the Dempsey Road area. Another friend in Indo had glowing reviews of this place, and after brunching there, I understood exactly what she meant. This place was amazing. Great ambience, great feel, great food, great drinks, great dessert, and most importantly, it reminded me of home and all the fun brunches we enjoyed in DC. Yes, we are in the food capital of the world with cuisines from all over, but sometimes you just need a little slice of home. Sometimes you just need a caramelized onion and bleu cheese quiche to make your morning brighter. Even better is when that quiche comes with iced lemongrass tea, definitely not something that I can easily find on brunch menus in DC, but a nice treat to remind me that we are in a new home in the tropics. Welcome home.

Gongxi Fa Cai

We're in the midst of Chinese New Year here, aka Spring Festival, and enjoying the two days of public holiday (though, like Christmas in the States, it can be tough going for those wanting to go to the store, a restaurant, catch a cab, etc.). Celebrating in Singapore is different than what I've experienced in China, though the core elements are the same-- family gatherings at the elders' homes, big sumptuous meals, lots of oranges and other auspicious items, and little red envelopes, or hongbaos, for the young ones. For not having any family in Singapore, Dewi still did pretty well in the hongbao department this year, thanks to some nice "aunties" and "uncles." And we were lucky enough to join family friends in their New Year's Day dinner, which was a lot more exciting than eating pasta in our apartment (read: chilli crabs, pepper crabs, crab soup).

We'd talked about buying Dewi a little qipao-- after all, baby-size anything is cute, and she is one quarter Chinese. But it would have been kind of lame to dress her up only to hang out at home because we don't really celebrate. Still, we're going to be here for a few more years, so at some point we'll have to really do it up, decorate our house, stock up on oranges, hand out hongbaos, and maybe even buy one of those dried pig legs hanging in the markets. Ok, the pig leg would be going too far...

Grocery Stores

Right now, as I am attempting to cool down my body temperature and working the kinks out of carrying heavy bags on my shoulders on the public bus, over the hills, through the woods, and into the apartment- I am missing my car (Jackie) and our Sexy Safeway on 5th and K. Though grocery shopping here in Singapore is quite easy to do, I do miss the convenience of writing my weekly grocery list, putting Dewi down for a nap, jumping into Jackie, driving to Safeway at 9 in the morning when no one else is around (but late enough that I can buy alcohol, since Safeway won't sell me my wine at 8:57 a.m.), finding everything I need, and then driving back home.

Although Singapore makes getting around town quite easy to do (with public buses frequently coming by and courtesy shuttles from nearby plazas), I have found that in order to find everything that we want on our list we have to make a couple of stops. Here are the stops:
1. Nanyang market- if we don't want to go that far and just need a couple of snacks, fruits, or a bottle of shampoo, we can head to this mart, right in our apartment complex. They have a lot of things, but not as much selection as a big grocery store. I like their selection of dried Chinese snacks: dried prunes, dried plums, and other assorted dry and sour stuff. But for formula, wipes, and other things you want for your kitchen, you have to leave the campus.
2. Sheng Siong- this is quite a hidden gem. One of of the moms in our meetup group told me about this 2-level Asian market. Wait a minute, aren't they all Asian markets, you may ask? After all, Singapore is in Asia (right?)? The answer is yes, these markets are all in Asia. There are markets and there are ASIAN markets. If any of you have ever been to a 99 ranch market, H-Mart, or GrandMart, you'll know what I mean. Sheng Siong is hectic, chaotic, in your face, and smells like dead fish, but the prices are reasonable and they carry a lot of things. This includes Dewi's favorite Baby Bites (this link isn't exactly it, but it's pretty close), a nice selection of pasta, and Mexican products. Though I love the Mexican section, I will probably never purchase any of them during our time here since it's so expensive. For example, a box of Old El Paso Taco Shells is 10 bucks! But Sheng Siong doesn't carry much meat or grated parm. Which brings us to...
3. Cold Storage- This is a nice, smaller version of the sexy Safeway. It is not as hectic and feels like any Western grocery store (just 1/5 of the size), but one has to spend some time comparing labels in Cold Storage. You can leave there spending a lot of money or an average amount. Cold Storage does carry grated parm (which is pretty pricey here), and other things you may need for your western meal or superbowl party (Cheeseheads, please note that Johnsonville brats are 10 bucks a pack here). They also have deli meats, beef and turkey bacon, and a little Swiss bakery right outside of it in case we are craving a nice loafy bread.

After those three stops, I trek to the bus stop, get on the bus, then head back home. By the time I get into our apartment, I down three glasses of cold water and sit still for about 10 minutes so that I can cool down. Oh yeah, and did I mention the fruit stands and wet market as well? I could use a nice bottle of beer right now. Oh yeah, those are expensive too :)

Is Chivalry Dead?

I am all about equal rights for women and avoiding placing gender roles on people. At the same time I was always so appreciative of both young and old men giving up their seats for me and Dewi on the bus, letting me get on the bus first even though they had been waiting at the stop much longer than me, or holding the elevator doors open for me. I miss those days. As much as I love Singapore, I find that these little acts of chivalry and consideration are rare in my new city. Crowds of able-bodied people who are able to use the escalators bum rush the elevators so that there is no more room for us and the stroller. Women and men alike rush past us and push us out of the way so that they can get onto the train first, while we struggle to get the stroller over the gap and in the door before the train takes off.  People pretend to be asleep on the train so that they don't have to give the reserved seats (reserved for elderly, parents with children, and pregnant women) up for us. As clean and beautiful as everything is here, I really wish that chivalry would find its way here. In the meantime, we will continue shoulder checking those who dare get in Dewi's way.

Singapore Playdates

Dewi and I have started getting out to meet mommies and babies in the area. Fortunately we found a mommies and babies meetup group close to us in the west coast area. Our outings have generally been a short bus ride away. In Singapore, it is required that parents take their babies out of the "pram", fold the pram, and keep it folded during the ride. That's a lot of work when you have a baby and at least one bag to carry. When we go on outings as a family, taking Dewi out of the stroller before we get on the bus is no problem. I have found that when it's just me and Dewi, strapping her into the Ergo is much easier for our outings. Since Dewi is getting bigger by the day, lugging a 20+ lb. baby all day is quite a workout. Both of us usually have blobs of sweat on our shirts by the time we get to our destination.

So far we have had a couple of outings/playdates at nearby West Coast Park, which is this amazing space right on the water. It is a huge park with several playgrounds that are sure to give Dewi hours of entertainment when she is older. Right now she is happy enough chilling on our picnic blanket (a parting gift from a Boat People SOS banquet many years ago), running her fingers through the sand in the playground area, and watching the bigger kids play on the playground. Right by the playground is the nicest McDonald's that I have ever seen. It has an outside patio area with chairs, tables, ponds, and ceiling fans that remind me of restaurants in Bali. Compared to the 5th Street McDonald's in DC that Derek and I often passed on the way to Derek's work or when I had to go to court, it is such a difference.

Dewi and I have also gotten together with a new friend and her baby at their condo, an MRT ride away. We attempted to hang out in the pool with the babes, but as always, the unexpected (rather, "expected", since it happens nearly everyday) Singaporean afternoon shower shortened our pool time. We still had a lot of fun, chatting and watching the babies play with each other. Even though Singaporean afternoons can be hot and humid, after hearing of the recent DC snowstorms and unfortunate power outages to friends' homes, I am grateful for our tropical weather. Especially since the NUS pool is just a short internal shuttle ride away.