Singapore Sling
Door: Yaisa
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Yaisa
28 November 2006 | Singapore, Singapore
Well, we're here!!! After having been offline for four days, which seemed like an eternity for us, I can finally access internet... I guess ABN AMRO IT has the same quality of service around the globe :-).
No, we're certainly not complaining, life over here is excellent so far! A few highlights for those interested:
Travels:
As soon as we boarded the plain, we enjoyed the complimentary glass of bubbles and ordered ourselves a Singapore Sling (yes, we took off at 11.15 am) and another one and then slept like two little babies... Timmo is still suffering from his jetlag, I seem to have adjusted pretty well. Singapore Airlines Business Class is definitely the way to travel! Our 8 suitcases came off the luggagebelt within 5 minutes and within 30 minutes we were in our temporary residence, Central Square.
Accomodation:
It's like living in a nice hotel, with kitchen facilities, which so far we've used... not at all. Saturday we went to the pool and I suppose we (ie Timmo) will be using the gym sometime soon as well... Today we've started scanning the newspapers for rentals, all our colleagues are recommending their own neighbourhood to us and next week we'll start viewing with a real estate agent... The standard is 2+1 or 3+1 bedrooms (the +1 being the small room for the maid), with full facilities (gym, pool, BBQ pit, sometimes even a shoppingmall within the complex), so visitors... start booking your ticket!!
Work:
ABN AMRO Singapore has just moved into the South Tower of One Raffles Square ("ah, the new building!" say taxi drivers, real estate agents and all other people we speak to) and Timmo and I are on Level 22, sitting approximately... 8 meters from eachother. The floors are undeniably office gardens, it's one large open space with all these little asian heads sticking out of the cubicles (and the odd European face here and there). The facilities are great, gym to be opened in the North Tower in January, amazing view over the harbour, 20 mins walk from our current housing... If only we had a computer to work on!!! Oh well, at least I can legitimately spend my working time looking for apartements...
Food:
Last but not least... China Town is about 5 mins walk from our residence, so guess where we've had all our dinners so far... Chilli crab, satay (the real thing of course, not those huge lumps of chicken on a stick drowned in peanut butter sauce), fried noodles, noodle soup with dumplings, tiger beer, fresh juices, fresh fruit... Either on those lovely plastic chairs out on the street or in that typical take-away fashion... The only bummer is that we haven't been able to find Durian yet...
Miscellaneous:
- Footmassage... ouch, pretty painful but in a nice way... S$ 30 (EUR 15) for an hour's worth!
- HR introduction morning: among other things, it was explained to us that ABN AMRO is proud to offer the following workshops to her employees "How do I avoid marrying a jerk" and "Shall we have a baby?" (in the family category) or offers discounts for some matchmaking agencies... Hmmm, interesting! I'll try to forward these intranet links to the Dutch colleagues in Amsterdam, it's worth the laugh!
Anyway, enough for now! I hope your weekend was as exciting as ours and we'll catch you online soon again (I just spotted an IT guy with 2 laptops, I'm going to tackle him now!)
Looking forward to all interesting news from other parts of the world! (We don't miss you yet, but it's only been five days...)
Timmo & Yaisa
No, we're certainly not complaining, life over here is excellent so far! A few highlights for those interested:
Travels:
As soon as we boarded the plain, we enjoyed the complimentary glass of bubbles and ordered ourselves a Singapore Sling (yes, we took off at 11.15 am) and another one and then slept like two little babies... Timmo is still suffering from his jetlag, I seem to have adjusted pretty well. Singapore Airlines Business Class is definitely the way to travel! Our 8 suitcases came off the luggagebelt within 5 minutes and within 30 minutes we were in our temporary residence, Central Square.
Accomodation:
It's like living in a nice hotel, with kitchen facilities, which so far we've used... not at all. Saturday we went to the pool and I suppose we (ie Timmo) will be using the gym sometime soon as well... Today we've started scanning the newspapers for rentals, all our colleagues are recommending their own neighbourhood to us and next week we'll start viewing with a real estate agent... The standard is 2+1 or 3+1 bedrooms (the +1 being the small room for the maid), with full facilities (gym, pool, BBQ pit, sometimes even a shoppingmall within the complex), so visitors... start booking your ticket!!
Work:
ABN AMRO Singapore has just moved into the South Tower of One Raffles Square ("ah, the new building!" say taxi drivers, real estate agents and all other people we speak to) and Timmo and I are on Level 22, sitting approximately... 8 meters from eachother. The floors are undeniably office gardens, it's one large open space with all these little asian heads sticking out of the cubicles (and the odd European face here and there). The facilities are great, gym to be opened in the North Tower in January, amazing view over the harbour, 20 mins walk from our current housing... If only we had a computer to work on!!! Oh well, at least I can legitimately spend my working time looking for apartements...
Food:
Last but not least... China Town is about 5 mins walk from our residence, so guess where we've had all our dinners so far... Chilli crab, satay (the real thing of course, not those huge lumps of chicken on a stick drowned in peanut butter sauce), fried noodles, noodle soup with dumplings, tiger beer, fresh juices, fresh fruit... Either on those lovely plastic chairs out on the street or in that typical take-away fashion... The only bummer is that we haven't been able to find Durian yet...
Miscellaneous:
- Footmassage... ouch, pretty painful but in a nice way... S$ 30 (EUR 15) for an hour's worth!
- HR introduction morning: among other things, it was explained to us that ABN AMRO is proud to offer the following workshops to her employees "How do I avoid marrying a jerk" and "Shall we have a baby?" (in the family category) or offers discounts for some matchmaking agencies... Hmmm, interesting! I'll try to forward these intranet links to the Dutch colleagues in Amsterdam, it's worth the laugh!
Anyway, enough for now! I hope your weekend was as exciting as ours and we'll catch you online soon again (I just spotted an IT guy with 2 laptops, I'm going to tackle him now!)
Looking forward to all interesting news from other parts of the world! (We don't miss you yet, but it's only been five days...)
Timmo & Yaisa
-
28 November 2006 - 07:52
Rogier:
Yaisa,
Ik ben jaloers! Onze vreindin Sandy heeft een CD met Nelly opgestuurd en een La Salle T-shirt. Wil je deze hebben of zal ik hem weggeven?
Ik raad Indochine aan om een keer te gaan eten, maar ja wie ben ik om jou iets te vertellen over eten....
Rogier -
28 November 2006 - 08:01
Ilse:
Hi Yaisa,
klinkt helemaal goed! Ik vind het allemaal erg spannend voor jullie!! Houd ons op de hoogte...
Groetjes,
Ilse -
28 November 2006 - 08:13
Mama:
het lijkt wel of jullie in het paradijs zijn beland, je blijft in ieder geval gezond met al dat fruit ! doei, tot mails -
28 November 2006 - 08:15
Ying Wei:
hihi yais en Timmo,
Leuk te horen dat het goed gaat. Ik hoorde dat Timmo een beetje emotioneel was bij het vertrek en dat er een waterval aan emoties/traantjes het gevolg was :-) Ik zie het helemaal voor me. Wat klinkt het als een droom, jullie nieuwe leven en avontuur. Misschien is 'Let's have a baby' een goede cursus voor jullie ;-)?
Hier gaat alles verder, mama geholpen met website. Suggesties zijn welkom, overigens. Vandaag voor het laatst ook met strijkkwartet een date, Lenneke gaat ons ook verlaten. Nog even, en ik ben alleen in dit kleine koude kikkerlandje. Overigens is koud relatief, het wordt vandaag 15 graden!!! Talking about global warming...
Goed, ik ga verder met werk. Succes met alles. Zet wat fotootjes op het net, aub.
heel veel liefs!!! -
28 November 2006 - 08:22
Chantal:
Hi yaisa & timmo,
What a great stories! Keep up the spirit and can't wait to see the first photos :)) cheers -
28 November 2006 - 08:57
Anjo:
Dat eten!
Klinkt echt super... -
28 November 2006 - 08:57
Marian Honingh:
Als je zulke mails blijft sturen dan zal je de extra guest room zeker nodig hebben! Fantastisch dat de eerste dagen zo goed verlopen zijn. Ik ben benieuwd naar het vervolg van je avonturen. Heel veel (werk)plezier en succes met het vinden van een eigen plek. -
28 November 2006 - 09:11
Taco:
Ah, the simple life !
klinkt goed allemaal ! -
28 November 2006 - 10:03
Esmoreit:
Dag Timmo en Yaisa,
Mmm, klinkt als met je neus in de boter...goeie accomodatie, lekker eten en erg nuttige workshops ;-). En alles in de buurt.
Groet, Esmoreit -
28 November 2006 - 11:02
Katelijne:
Klinkt geweldig allemaal! Maak het niet te lang want ga nu een ticket boeken ;-)
Katelijne -
28 November 2006 - 14:00
Bart:
Is de logeerkamer al ingericht? -
28 November 2006 - 15:15
Hanneke:
Hi Yaisa en Timmo,
Dat klinkt goed allemaal!! Wat fijn dat jullie zo met open armen worden ontvangen!! Wij wensen jullie een heel goed begin met jullie nieuwe leven in Singapore. Veel plezier!
Groetjes van Hanneke en Rob -
28 November 2006 - 19:37
Odeth:
Great to read that you've arrived in a 'warm bath'!!
Enjoy this as long as you can. -
29 November 2006 - 19:13
Alex & Vinnie:
Hoi mensen!
Klinkt erg goed allemaal, blij dat jullie daar nu echt 'geland' zijn! Vonden het erg jammer elkaar voor vertrek niet meer gezien te hebben (bedachten dit uiteraard op de dag van jullie vertrek...).
Have fun in elk geval & vast tot binnenkort ergens!!! -
30 November 2006 - 11:17
Jaspar:
Hey vakantiewerkers!
Klinkt goed, hou jullie haaks daar! -
30 November 2006 - 20:53
Felix:
Lekker verhaal...letterlijk! Klinkt niet echt als een straf, daar vertoeven! Succes met het vinden van een definitief stulpje! groeten Felix & Linda -
30 November 2006 - 22:37
Freya En Peter:
Lieve Timmo en Yaisa,
Wij vertrokken dezelfde dag, toen jullie gingen koffie drinken met je vrienden, stegen wij net op... naar Brasil. Morgen gaan we alweer terug, naar het koude Nederland.
Geniet!
Kus Peter en Freya -
01 December 2006 - 07:26
Iris:
Wanneer volgen jullie nou eens die "shall we have a baby?" cursus, zodat de maid kan intrekken om voor de spruit te zorgen?? :-) :-)
Klinkt erg goed allemaal, blijven schrijven!!
Kus,
I. -
04 December 2006 - 09:42
Rob:
Hoi Yaisa,
Heerlijke verhalen. Wij zijn vandaag net terug van onze vakantie Malediven en Sri Lanka en ik geniet van de Aziatische overeenkomsten in jullie ervaringen. Ik wil weer terug!!
Laat al die baby suggesties nog maar even lekker links liggen en geniet (maar dat hoef ik jou niet te vertellen).
Tot snel,
Rob
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