First days

So we've been in Singapore for 5 days now, so it seems like a good time to look back and get reflective. Or at least, you know, describe what we've been doing.

So the night before we left, everyone came over for one last goodbye. We uncorked about 6 bottles of wine and had at it. Mike was smart and didn't drink and went to bed early. Adrian made Leah cry by insisting this was the last time they'd say goodnight to Mike. Everyone left, one by one, till it was finally just me and Hillary. I opened my goodbye book and read everything you guys had written in it. Suffice to say, I was touched and had a bit of a meltdown. Hillary left at around 2:30 in the morning, but I couldn't fall asleep. So I put on the TV and laid on the floor for awhile. Which is where Mike found me around 5. Apparently he asked why I was on the floor, and I said "there may be many reasons." I have no memory of this.

We got to the Austin airport at around 11, with mom, dad, Laura, and Adrian in tow. I tried not to cry, and I think I actually succeeded pretty well. I'm sure mom cried enough for the both of us. We finally parted and we went to stand in line at security. No one left until we were entirely through the line. Also, they were loud and kept waving at us. So thanks for that.

So the flight to Houston was terrible. There were no TVs or anything, and it was super crowded. Luckily it only took like 30 minutes to get there. Then we had to wait another 2 hours for our flight to Moscow. The plane was huge, but Mike and I got stuck on separate sides of the aisle. You'd think 35c and 35d would be next to each other but NO. No they are not. Luckily the plane was pretty empty and we got to move to an empty row behind.

So apparently I can't sleep on airplanes. I didn't know this about myself, but there it is. It's simply not a talent I possess. So instead I read Neverwhere by Neil Gamon, which I highly recommend, and watched Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I also highly recommend. We finally landed in Moscow, and I was so damn happy to get off that plane, even though the Moscow airport is really hot and smells like smoke. Also, Russian people are extremely pale and loud.

The flight to Singapore SUCKED. I cannot stress this enough. The plane was full, so we didn't get to sit next to each other, and the person in front of me kept farting. The longest 12 hours of my life. I practically ran off the plane when it landed. Luckily we had a driver waiting for us and we could leave right away. He drove us to our hotel and we crashed for half the day.

First impressions:

We woke up and decided to go exploring. It was around 3 in the afternoon on Saturday, and everyone was swarming the streets. The heat and humidity are pretty intense, and we started sweating right away. That part is going to take some getting used to. We went into a giant mall that had seven stories, one of which was filled with video and arcade games. We found our first hawker center, which is a huge food court filled with stalls of cheap, delicious street food. We got some chicken and rice, mostly because I saw Anthony Bourdain eat it when he was in Singapore. It's basically just boiled chicken over rice, but then they give you hot sauce to put on top, and bok choy in soy sauce with crispy bits of fried fish. We also got fresh fruit juices that were delicious. I got mango and pineapple, Mike got passion fruit and orange. Mine was totally better.

We crashed pretty early that night, and woke up around 4 the next morning. We're still trying to get the schedules down. We got coffee from this 24 hour bakery next to our hotel room, where they brew it fresh and then put sweetened condensed milk it in. It is so freaking good, I don't think I can go back to cream and sugar. We took the subway for the first time, which is exceedingly clean and fast. We went to try and find Mike's work building, but we got lost somewhere along the way and spent two hours wandering the streets of the Changi district. I got horrifically sunburned and we both got dehydrated. But at least the scenery was pretty. We went to a Korean place and got some real ramen, with some much needed salt. Everything we've eaten here has been good, even the weird ice cream sandwiches that use actual bread.

Mike started his job on Monday, so I've been mostly staying in and waiting for my sunburn to heal. I went to go eat lunch with him yesterday, and his building has a big food court on the bottom floor. Since I'm not going to be working for awhile, I think I'll start meeting him for lunch a few days a week.

Yesterday we went to get our little netbook at Sim Lim square, which is a mall full of nothing but electronics. Picture Best Buy, but 5 stories high and packed wall to wall. I was slightly overwhelmed and pretty sure I was going to break something. But we came away with a cute LG netbook, which I am using to write this very blog.

Things are sort of blurring together in my head. There's so much to look at and so much to do, I can't seem to remember everything. I think I need to take more pictures, so at least I'll have definitive proof that we did this.

I miss everybody a lot, but I know I'm going to like it here.

Next stop, Little India! I'll write again soon.