Besides moving all your stuff in, a huge part of feeling at home is getting all the food and house hold items for your new house in order. We hence steered towards NEX to get all the basic necessities, which took several hours. However, we were really feeling so liberated, since we could now read all the labels AND ask the staff if we needed to know something. Completely different from Japan, where you basically need to prepare with at least some translated words before you go, maybe be able to make yourself understood, they might have what you ask for and then go home with often a complete surprise. In Singapore they even have sections with Swedish food!
Even though we’ve lived next to the world’s largest fish market Tsukiji in Tokyo, there are still stuff from the sea we’ve never seen, like this Slipper Lobster
The next thing to feel at home, at least if you are Swedish, is to get into the routines as quickly as possible. Morning and evening swimming was therefore set on the schedule and it’s seriously hard! At least to sort out the breathing when crawling; I’ve tried breathing in every 2nd, 3rd and now 4th stroke, but have real troubles finding a rhythm. Will keep practicing though, since it’s very good exercise and power walking/jogging is just out of the question for me in this climate.
The path from The Jade at The Springbloom towards the exercise pool
The routines regarding washing clothes are still to come, but hanging wet clothes on the balcony in this country is just a pure joy; everything dries in less than an hour! I just pray I don’t have to fight of geckos around the washing machine any time soon again.
Pic from the elevators towards our balcony during dusk
It’s of course also important to get to know your new environment and start creating a social network as quick as possible to feel at home. I hence have taken a few days just walking around the city, taking the metro back and forth trying to decrease the extensive shopping list for the home we had acquired. After a lunch date with a new friend, Katarina, in Haji Lane (home of various new designers of clothes, furniture and jewelry), I passed a really strange building. It’s official name is something else, but it’s unofficially called ‘Gotham’ and it really looks like Batman’s home.
‘Gotham’ or why not ‘Bruce’s crib’?
In addition, since I’m now the ‘Household Manager’ (which was actually filled in at the passport control by my dear man), it’s important to get the food right. Half of the time we really don’t know what we’re ordering and understanding the Singlish waiters’ answers to the questions you are asking at a restaurant is no picnic. Therefore I’ve decided to go strictly with European breakfast in the morning including hot coffee, musli, yoghurt AND bread, while gone completely bonkers with all kinds of news for dinner. So far we’ve not really had any red meat, since the selection from the sea, all fantastic fruit/vegetables and also the poultry is of very good quality and cheap. In addition, most of the beef seem to be slaughtered halal style, which does not agree with neither of us, so we’ve decided to keep away from it as much as possible. To get us a bit more used to the brutally spicy dishes I’ve started putting proper chili into almost everything and it actually works. However, I’m back in the situation where I have no oven, but I hope to sort that out as soon as possible. I want to reclaim my baking Mondays!
On the menu in one of the local restaurants; for some reason, I don’t think this fish dish would go down very well in Sweden..
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