Cats & Dogs....

Dear all,

While mother nature is having a bit of a tantrum both in The Netherlands (hope everybody got home safely yesterday) as well as in Malaysia where near the Singaporean border (Johor Bahru) ten thousands of people have been evacuated and diseases are breaking out, we seem to be quite safe here in Singapore. Yes, it's been raining cats & dogs and a heavy thunderstorm raged over us yesterday, but nothing the Singaporean gutters couldn't handle... But it's dry and sunny now, so here is a fresh recap of the beginning of last week, our 7th week in Singapore!

Monday 9.20am: As I get my morning coffee at the office (quite a good espresso machine with freshly grounded beans), I read the funny message in typical Singlish posted in the pantry: “Milk is use for coffee and tea only”, meaning “Use the milk for in the coffee and tea only”. There are many examples of this: “ I have meet up with …” meaning “I had a meeting with…”. “I don’t have lunch” meaning “I haven’t had lunch yet today…”. It’s funny and sometimes I have to think twice before getting the message, but you get used to it, la! It sometimes leads to miscommunications though… Since they don’t use the past and future tense properly, you never when somebody has already done something, will do it, won’t do it or just wants you to NOT understand them (a very subtle way of not agreeing with what you say)…

Monday 12.30pm: Timmo and I have lunch with VK, an Indian colleague with an unpronounceable name, so we just call him by his initials. We go to Lau Pa Sat, a food court right in front of the office, located in an old Victorian pavilion. It's busy, cheap and there is a variety of food available, ranging from vegetarian Indian to Halal. The street behind it turns into a Satay market during the evenings. Barbeques are lit up along the streets, chairs and tables are pulled out and you just order your satays fresh of the BBQ… delicious! After lunch we get our daily vitamin fix (half a litre of fresh fruit juice) and we go back to the office, a.k.a. the Fridge. As we come back in, I spot a colleague taking a snooze, face down on his desk. Some (Chinese) people do it occasionally and although not on a daily basis, it does seem to be quite accepted, as I don’t hear any raving managers about it. I wouldn’t dare… imagine me snoring in my office chair :-) And the monthly fruit distribution has arrived. Every month, all employees get a free portion of fruit from the bank (last month it was two sharon fruits each, this months it's a bag with little deliciously sweet mandarins). They know how to take care of their people here in Singapore... ;-)

Monday 2.30pm: It’s waky waky time in the Netherlands, so I give a birthday call to my (little) brother who is turning 28 years old… One of the picture frames I hung up on Saturday in the house was of us two, 4 and 7 years old… jeez, time flies! The RSVP’s to the house warming party invitations I’ve send out on Friday are coming in. Our first hosting, next week Saturday! 75% of the people we’ve invited are colleagues… let’s aim for more diversity at our next party.

Monday 4.15pm: I get a call from Amah’s-on-wheels, a maid agency. I’ve been looking for a part-time cleaning lady, or as they call them here, a maid or an amah. We’ve been told a part-time maid costs almost as much as a live-in (full-time maid). But first of all, we definitely don’t want to give up our privacy, second, I don’t think Timmo and I make enough mess to keep a maid busy all day and third, as we would never consider putting a maid up in the broom closet designated for that purpose, we would be short of a guestroom if we did get a live-in. So where would all you guys have to stay??? Therefore, we’re going for the part-timer… I need to find one fast, the ironing jobs are stacking up… :-)

Monday 6.30pm: I’ve been working on a presentation for my manager, we’ll be going to an ABN AMRO regional Business Banking (SME) conference in Kuala Lumpur end of January. My first trip for work! I’m leaving “early” today, because I have an appointment with the manicure/pedicure! Ah yes, some of these things are just too convenient around here…

Tuesday 10.00 am: I have a meeting about developing a new account opening process for my client target group. It’s not so much the topic that is interesting, more so the process of the conversations… Communication is different here. During meetings there is no agenda, no chairman and people definitely do not let other people finish their sentences (this gets worse the higher the people are ranked). Timmo and I have come out of meetings several times, wondering what in the world’s name has been agreed to and who is supposed to do what… It’s not so much a language barrier, but definitely a cultural one! Every day, I get a better picture of what my added value can be here: try and get things organised!

Tuesday 12.15pm: I go for lunch with Linda & Winfried, two Dutch colleagues while Timmo has lunch with his manager. It’s raining outside, no, correct that, it’s pouring outside, so we decide to stay underground. There are tens of eateries in the MRT underground passes and during rainy days like these, they are packed. We are lucky and find a seat at a Japanese restaurant, where you get 15% discount if you order before 12.30pm. We place our order at 12.29pm, bingo! We have lived here for about 6 weeks and we already have about 15 stampcards, discount membership cards and other types of loyalty cards in our wallets. Buy 1 shushi (at the end of the day), get 1 free. Get 6 stamps, get a free drink. Pay a membership fee and get 20% discount on all purchases for the rest of your life. Book your plane tickets for August now and pay only S$ 19 for a return ticket to Vietnam (excl. airport tax of course…). Buy 4 cinema tickets and get a discount voucher for the supermarket next door… It’s driving me insane! Boy, do they know how to get people to spend money in this country… I haven’t counted but I’m sure there is at least one huge shopping mall per capita in this town. And they are all packed, every hour of the day, every day of the week… Funnily, the interest rate on savings accounts is about 0.25% per year… so there’s no use in saving your money anyway. :-)

Tuesday 7.55pm: I’m still at the office waiting for Timmo to finish, but I’m done working. I’m checking the internet for cheap flights… If we book a return trip today for Singapore - Bangkok and we fly in July, we only pay S$ 270 (incl. tax) for the two of us… I guess it’s worth the gamble! So we’re going to Bangkok for a long weekend in July! And I’ve also booked a ticked to Taipei for February, where we’ll spend Chinese New Year with my father. Then mum is coming in May… Hmmm, March & April are still pretty empty… I’ll check out some more cheap flights tomorrow! Anyway, if any of you comes to visit and wants to make trips like that, let us know in time so we can book for you!

Lots of love & keep it dry!

Timmo & Yaisa