"I don't understand why I'm so bad at actual bowling because I'm so good on the Wii."

After a case of the "terrible Monday's", I was hoping the week would shape up nicely. On Tuesday, I tried to start the new day with a new attitude! But, that was before my trip to the market when I took a look around and realized just how dirty Singapore is! I mean, would you look at all this Singapore litter!

Singapore Litter : ) The pretty flowers are everywhere right now in all different shades of pink, purple, and white!

Don't worry, I was only kidding, it's beautiful here (and very clean)! And the week did in fact shape up nicely!  This week, I didn't do too much experimenting with different recipes aside from a black bean soup and chicken kabobs.  Both surprisingly turned out good.  The kabobs were definitely more fun though.  It was our first time grilling at the new place - we sat out at the patio-grill with Colt and had some drinks and talked while we grilled, the weather was really nice that night too.

Kabobs for our first grill at the new place

 Last week I mentioned the Kopitiam, the Hawker-style food court that Mark and his coworkers eat at sometimes during the week.  Well, Mark and I met Wednesday for lunch and had planned to eat there but we chose an Italian place instead for a little variety for Mark but I still snapped a few photos of it for a visual.  A few of the specialties there include the chicken rice which Mark eats a lot and the roasted duck which neither of us have been brave enough to try...Yet.

Kopitiam, A/C Hawker-style food court

Roasted duck, one of the house specialties

On Thursday, I had lunch with Jessica at a dumpling Bar that she recommended.  We shared two types of Dim Sum (shrimp and pork), rice, and beef noodles.  It was all delicious and I now plan to take Mark there for lunch sometime since he loves dumplings (or Dim Sum).  After a great lunch, Jessica also took me to one of here favorite shopping centers and we walked and shopped for several hours.  Sadly or thankfully, neither of us saw much that we couldn't live without so we left with the only purchase being a cranberry cream cheese bread.

Outside view of the dumpling bar, Din Tai Fung.  I knew it was probably going to be good given the crowd.  When in doubt, I've been told to pick the most crowded place or the place with the longest line.

Since Mark and I already had plans for Saturday, we decided to take it easy on Friday and just went out for one drink then came home.  We hung out with Colt, had dinner, and started a new show called The Wire.  It was not very good the first few episodes but now we're on the 6th episode and we're really starting to get into it!

My drink, Caribbean Romance, from Black and White Bar.  They do the cutest garnishes, this one is a cherry and dragon fruit flower!

My boys hanging out while I cook dinner : )

Such an angel!!

Saturday morning I met Sarah for yoga.  We went to a new studio she found that just opened in Robertson Quay (very near our place), the most convenient studio for both of us.  It was a great workout anyways but more so given the fact that there is no air conditioner (common in much of Asia) so I sweat a lot!  We used the free trial since it just opened but the prices seemed reasonable and it's close to the condo so I would definitely go again.  After yoga, I did somethings around the house and Mark got us subway for lunch/dinner before we started to get ready for the group bowling outing.  Sarah and her boyfriend Brian live close to us so we met at her place before bowling for some drinks and to share a taxi.  Her and Brian have been very helpful answering our Singapore questions but especially with our diving questions. She is an advanced diver who has went on many dives since being is Singapore so she has been able to give us great recommendations on where to go to get certified and where to dive after our certification.  Following drinks we went to bowling where we met a group of 10-12, most of which we had already met but a few that we hadn't.  There we're two lanes of us and we had a great time.  Mark finished with the second highest combined score of the three games, I finished with the lowest. It has to be said that I need some serious work on my bowling form.

Part of the group during the bowling

Sarah, who Niki met in Texas at Absolve before moving to Singapore, and Niki

Mark bowling a spare

Niki bowling a gutter ball

Super awesome bowling shoes!

After a late but fun night of bowling, we did some more work on the place and now I think the only thing we have left to do is hang the pictures.  The handyman is coming on Monday for that, I tried doing it myself but the walls have concrete behind them so I figured I should probably leave it to the professionals.  The condo has sliding doors in both bedrooms and a balcony from the living room with nice views of Singapore and the river but I'll wait for a prettier day outside to get pictures from those. So, here's some starter pictures but I'll post better ones once the place is 100% finished!

The entryway. Colt had to get his mug in a couple shots.

View from entryway.

View of living room

View of living room from hallway

View of living room and kitchen

View of kitchen and dining room

View of guest bathroom, a.k.a Mark's bathroom. To be fair, I did give him the master closet.

Colt's Room

Colt showing off his toy box

Master bedroom

Master bedroom view 2

Niki's Bathroom

Niki's bathroom view 2

The still pretty disorganized study

A Case of the Terrible Mondays

Monday began with some continued issues with the condo.  Since moving into Watermark we've been faced with several things not working properly, the biggest issue we've faced being the water that leaks out into the study room floor from a source somewhere in the guest bathroom.  To make a long story short, this has been ongoing since we moved in because it was not adequately repaired or monitored when it was first brought to the owners attention.  It led to our not being able to use the guest bath for the first 4 weeks and more than a dozen appointments in regards to it! While we are happy that the issue is being addressed, we are quite upset because prior to signing the lease the water issue was disclosed to us as a previously resolved issue. We were assured on multiple occasions by the owner that it was no longer an existing issue, even though that was not the case.  So, at the very least, we feel misled.  On the bright side, Monday was supposed to mark the end of our worries with this water hassle! But, that didn't exactly go as expected either.  Apparently the owner signed off for the contractor to cut into the wall without telling me and the contractor made no effort to contain the wall dust/dirt/mold smell by simply covering our things.  And when I came back from the store on Monday after the dust had settled the WHOLE place was caked with dust/dirt and Colt looked like he had been snowed on.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper!  While the owner was apologetic, that did not make up for the fact that I then spent the next FIVE HOURS on Monday cleaning and doing laundry to get rid of the mess!  Oh yes, laundry too because the dust seeped into the drawers and coated the first layer of clothes in every drawer, YAY (Said in sarcastic voice)! You might think this doesn't sound that bad but I forgot to mention that before I left for the store I had just (and when I say just I literally mean 5 minutes before) finished putting away and cleaning all of our stuff from the move. I was going to the store to get a shower curtain rod - the only project I had left to finish before Mark came home from work and I could show off how hard I'd worked on the place that day (yes, I know it's sad but I totally planned to fish for some compliments).  So when I came home to the giant mess which put me back at square one, I had a stress overload.  But again, on the bright side (I'm really trying to have the glass is half full mindset here), the landlord has been super nice since this incident but I think that's because I called her crying and she's a little worried I might be crazy...

Small sample of the dust that covered EVERYTHING!

Also, I have the best husband ever! Mark knew what a bad day I had so he brought me flowers! Aww!

Yeah...He scored major points!

Unpacking for eternity

I will apologize in advance for a shortened blog this week.  While the week seemed busy to us, the majority of it was full of preparing the house for the arrival of our furniture. So, in other words, a lot of tasks that are not exciting enough to document.  But, there were a few exceptions!

While walking to the market it occurred to me that I hadn't shared any of the areas that I enjoyed along the river walk.  So, this week is a picture of my favorite bridge over the Singapore River.  The Alkaff Bridge at Robertson Quay.  This was Singapore's first art bridge which features 55 different colors of paint and is shaped like a tongkang, a boat used to carry goods along the river in the early days.  But, I think I just like it because it's colorful.

Alkaff Bridge

Mid-week I had lunch with a really nice woman whose husband Mark and I had met at the BBQ a few weeks back.  We had a good time and she's an artist so she was able to tell me where to get some art supplies.  In fact, she took me to the art store that day and I picked up some water colors. I then did my first painting in a little over two years! I was pretty excited!

My currently untitled painting

Wednesday Mark had some drinks with his coworkers, he took them to Black & White Bar to show our support during its opening week.  And then on Thursday he met up with Matt, a man who worked with a company called Inspectorate in Houston but now works in London.  Mark has known him for a few years now and enjoyed catching up with him.

Friday was the big day - the furniture was delivered!  There was a lot to do with having the rental furniture picked up the same day and checking in all the stuff we brought from Texas.  I'll be honest, at first when I saw it all in here I was scared. I seriously didn't know if it was all going to fit!  Although now that most of it is put away, I think it's fine.  Things are definitely tighter than what we're used to but it's manageable. Pictures of the place to follow in later blog once it's cleaned up a bit!

Friday night Mark and I met up with a couple, Dan and Jessica, that we had also met at the BBQ.  Dan and Jessica experiment with making their own beer due to the outrageous alcohol prices in Singapore and even brought us a gift of their just finished brew, a dark brew similar to Guinness. Next, they said they are trying a cherry wheat beer.  Mark is really excited but saving it for a later since they told us it gets better and more carbonated with age. Also, it has to be noted that Dan is a Patriots fan but we decided we like him anyways : )

Beer gift from Dan and Jessica, they even bottle it themselves!!

The four of us had dinner at a place called Esmirada which features Mediterranean cuisine and "Zorba" for entertainment.  For those of you that don't know (because I didn't), "Zorba" is an ancient Greek habit of smashing plates for good luck.  The waiters/waitresses all start clapping and the guests join in and then they pass out plates that you smash on the floor.  It was fun! Although I actually came home with quite a few cuts from this (I'll wear jeans next time) but I liked it none-the-less!  During dinner we all shared a hummus appetizer and for the main course Mark had Greek Moussaka, baked layers if minced lamb, eggplant, potato, cheese, tomato, white wine, and onions.  While I had Paella Espanola made from Spanish saffron rice and served with chicken, shrimp, scallops, and mussels.  I didn't care for Mark's dish but he really liked both and I loved mine.

My Paella Espanola dish summed up in one word, YUM!

Our broken plates during "Zorba"

After a great dinner on Friday we had some more unpacking to do on Saturday.  After that, we went to the Liang Court shopping center for some odds and ins. Then to Koppitiam for lunch.  Mark eats lunch at the Koppitiam with his coworkers sometimes and wanted to take me there. It's a Hawker style food court but unlike most Hawker Centers it has A/C (thank goodness).  The food there is very cheap and pretty good.

Saturday night we had Beerfest tickets so we headed towards the Marina where the Beerfest takes place right next to the Singapore Flyer.  And luckily, we ran into some people we had met so we spent most of the night hanging out with them.  There was a huge variety of beer but Mark still enjoyed Budweiser most.  I only tried one beer, a strawberry one which I didn't care for and ended up pawning off on Mark, and then I switched to mojitos.  We stayed late and snacked on Australian fish and chips when we were hungry. We had lots of fun!

Beerfest Asia 2011

Mark, hiding behind the "I'M NOT NICE" sign, joining in on the fun

Sunday was full of relaxation....and more unpacking...

Mark is old.

 This week was busy and exciting.  Monday morning began with me meeting up with the Shell Outpost Group for a core workout followed by coffee.  The Shell Outpost Group is made up of the wives of Shell expats in Singapore.  None of the other wives are from the U.S. but several of them have visited Houston before which I thought was neat. The Outpost Group gets together to create the Outpost newsletter which touches on a variety of things: Singapore history, fun places to visit in Singapore, expat experiences in Singapore, and more.  They also meet about once a month just for some fun and interaction which is what Monday was about.  One of the ladies is a personal trainer so she led a Pilates inspired core workout which was really good.  She also gave some general tips on how to get the most from your workout.  After the workout we drank espresso and conversed for a bit.  Since they have all been here longer, they had a lot of good information for me.

Monday night Mark and I went to see the new X-Men movie with his coworkers.  Surprising (I say surprisingly because sometimes prequels can be pretty bad), it was a pretty good movie-at least the visual effects were pretty impressive anyways. I also enjoyed meeting the wife of one of Mark's coworkers.

Tuesday marked the most exciting day of the week for Colt.  We got our Ikea delivery that day which included the sofa bed for our guest room a.k.a. Colt's bed for Colt's room.  We needed something in that room for potential guests to sleep on anyways (potential guests: don't worry we bought a separate cover just for you so you won't be sleeping in dog hair) and it works perfectly since Colt was getting to big for the largest dog bed.  Mark would like for you all to believe that I spoil Colt rotten but I would like to state for the record that this was his idea, so was the idea to get Colt his own fan which we did. Just saying.

Colt on his brand new bed that he managed to get this dirty in about 5 minutes

Referencing the workout on Monday, I enjoyed the Pilates so much that later in the week on Wednesday I decided to do a trial of machine Pilates at a place just up the river from our condo.  I was extremely impressed (and sore) afterwards.  I have to say that it was one of the best workouts I've had in a long time.  The classes at this particular gym are a little steep in price for my taste but now that I know I like it, I will be checking other places to see if they offer similar sessions!

When Thursday, Mark's birthday, rolled around I had several last minute preparations to make during the day so I spent most of the morning looking for wrapping paper, bows, and birthday candles.  Although, I was never able to find the later so Mark got to blow out my Sun and Sand Yankee candle.  Hey, I tried!  When Mark got off work we did a little birthday celebration here where he blew out his candle and opened his gifts.  He got a coffee table book, 100 Best Cites of the World, from me to help with travel ideas and from Colt he got 4 blue horse statues that he called the "mini Colt's" and had said he liked a few weeks ago.  After presents we went out to Clarke Quay where we went to several places and listened to live music and then sat by the river and enjoyed Spanish Tapas.

Mark's birthday spread with the Yankee Candle serving as Birthday Candle

The "mini Colts" from Colt

View of Clarke Quay Fountains and lights at night

Mark and Niki on Mark's birthday

When Mark and I came to Singapore for our preview trip we noticed the service in restaurants wasn't quite what we were used to, except at one place, Hog's Breath (I know, sounds appetizing, right?!), where we had a great bartender that we really liked named Jay.  He was so nice and gave such great service that we actually asked when he was working and ate there again during that trip.  When we moved here we were disappointed to find out that Hog's Breath had closed down but then randomly we saw Jay out a few weeks after that.  He told us that he and a few friends were opening their own bar in the next month and it was close to where we live.  So, on Friday we went to Jay's soft opening for his bar, Black & White.  We experienced the same great service and were pleasantly surprised with the prices.  We also got a VIP card from Jay which gives us 25% off every time we visit for the rest of the year.  Needless to say, we'll visit again!  We also met a really nice man originally from Katy, Texas so all-in-all it was a great night!

Black & White Bar & Bites, we really liked the picture hanging of New York Harbor in the 1930's

Black & White Bar & Bites view 2 (if you are ever in Singapore check this place out)

!

After staying out and sleeping in much later than we should have on Friday, we took Colt on a walk and then went to try Menya Shinchan, a Japanese noodle restaurant, right across the street from our condo.  Mark and I each ordered a noodle soup and we shared an order of dumplings.  And overall, we liked it!

Mark's Japanese noodle soup

Niki's Japanese noodle soup. The eggs were delicious, the meat...not so much

To officially celebrate Mark's birthday we went to the Marina Bay Sands Casino and to Cut, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant.  Before heading into the casino we took some pictures outside of Marina Bay Sands of the city and the skyline (see below).  Since the casino didn't have Texas Hold 'Em we decided to play Roulette and Blackjack.  Mark was actually doing pretty well until I came in the picture and started playing.  I managed to lose every single hand of every single game that I played!  To sum up our time in the casino I'll quote Mark, "Wow, some good luck charm you are." He's right, haha!

Picture of Marina Bay Sands, compliments of Wikipedia

The White building is the Art Science Museum in Singapore.  It's a major architectural attraction and was designed to resemble the lotus.

View of the Singapore City Skyline on a rainy day

The dome shaped building at near center is the Esplanade which contains concert halls and theaters. It was designed to look like the outside of a durian fruit (the local fruit Mark and I tried a few weeks ago).

After we officially became losers, we made our way to Cut for dinner.  It was awesome! Mark and I each had a steak, I had the U.S.D.A. New York Strip from Illinois (Go America!) and Mark had the Rib-eye from Australia.  After dinner they brought Mark a, "Happy Birthday" desert and before leaving they brought three mini macaroons for the table.  I had only recently tried macaroons and I love them, Mark really didn't care for them so I ate all three-But, they were "mini's"! Yes, this is what I tell myself to make it okay ; ) 

Mark and his birthday desert from Cut

Blowing out the candle

"Forbidden Kiss" drink at Cut which was infused with rose petals and raspberries. No idea what that means but it was good!

Mini Macaroons, aren't they cute?! No, they're evil!

After an eventful Friday and Saturday, Sunday was pretty chill.  Sadly, my Sunday excitement came from finding a new application for the iPhone called Incredibooth which takes photo booth like photos.  I'll warn you in advance, Colt and I got a little carried away...

Hi, this is my dog. Please be my friend.

Monday this week started off with what has become pretty routine - grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, walks for Colt, etc.  Although I did make a new discovery at the store this week but it is not something I think we'll be trying in the near future, it was...chicken feet. Umm, no thank you! I don't mean to knock it before I've tried it but I just don't foresee us eating something that still has the nails/claws attached.

Chicken feet at market, EWWW!

The majority of Tuesday was spent on the hunt for a birthday gift for Mark and running some errands.  The hunt led me to a couple of malls/store centers where I still didn't find anything (didn't help that I had absolutely no idea what I was looking for) and to Mustafa, which I call the Asian Walmart.  It's located in Little India and offers everything from watches and electronics to groceries and clothes, all of which are at a very affordable price. No luck with the birthday gift that day but I did run into a great sale on laundry detergent at Mustafa (YAY for a sale on anything, import prices are incredibly high)!  All-in-all, I will probably be making a once a month run to Mustafa to check out sale items but will likely not be doing our day-to-day shopping there. Although it has a vast selection of items, it's EXTREMELY crowded and, to be honest, a little overwhelming. The errands made me realize that since moving to Singapore, it has been fairly easy to get comfortable here which can sometimes make you forget that your in a new place where most everything is done differently.  For example: the errands consisted of having several items to mail, both locally and internationally, and I had the hardest time just finding the post office! They call it the Singapore Post here which contributed to some of the confusion.  Mostly, occurrences like this just make me extremely thankful for the internet!  I've relied on it so heavily since the move that it's hard to imagine a time when people made major moves and didn't have the internet to find things!

View of Little India streets on my way to Mustafa

Another thing, aside from the internet, that I've started to rely on is Colt.  We touched on last blog how Colt is a chick magnet and I finally realized that I had not been using Colt to his fullest potential!  Wednesday night, Colt really turned on the cute factor which lead to me meeting another woman from the U.S. in Singapore and being invited to breakfast the following  morning - Colt got invited too!  So, on Thursday, Colt and I went to Kith cafe and met 3 women and their dogs.  Colt behaved really well and I think he really liked the interaction with the other dogs, he especially liked the girl dog named Meg (what a ladies man)!  I also had a great time meeting new contacts in Singapore.  Two of the women also blog about there time in Singapore so it's really neat reading about what people who have been here longer have been up to.  Although, I'm going to have to up my game next week because both of their blogs were excellent.  After breakfast, I made a solo trip to Hot Dog, our Singapore Pet store, where I got Colt a bone for his efforts in helping me meet people.  Yes, I know it's sad but I have resorted to using my dog to make friends. : )

Colt with his reward

When Friday rolled around, Mark surprisingly got off at around 7:30pm so we decided to go out for dinner and drinks and headed to Malted Milk.  We like it because it's right across the street from us.  After a drink at Malted Milk, we headed to a restaurant called Stacked for some Asian dumplings and shared crab & pesto dim sum and Asian fluffy buns stuffed with Chili crab.  We headed home after dinner for an early night because we had a pretty busy Saturday ahead of us!

Much needed fan from Stacked (can't seem get this pick to rotate)

Niki enjoying Asian fluffy buns

Mark's Tiger beer, the local beer of Singapore

We got our morning started on Saturday then Mark and I took the MRT to the Tampines stop. From there we taxied to Ikea.  I had done the whole Ikea experience before in Houston but this was a first time (possibly last time) experience for Mark.  Let's just say that if, like Mark, you're someone who hates to shop a Saturday at the Singapore Ikea is probably not for you.  We did however get everything that we needed and were in and out in about...2 hours!  In Ikea's defense, it wasn't just the crowds that made the shopping trip last what seemed like an eternity,  we did stop and have lunch in the Ikea cafeteria.  At this point came one of my favorite quotes of the day when Mark said, "This food is really nothing special."  I had to remind him that we were eating...in a cafeteria...at Ikea...

Mark's "happy face" as we left Ikea

Following the Ikea trip, we went Back near the Tampines MRT to a place called Millennium Court, an open air skate sports rink where there was an inline roller hockey tournament going on and where Mark intends on playing on Wednesday nights.  In fact, he has already ordered his inline skates!  We only stayed for a little over one game because we had to get back to Colt and because it was very hot.  We (especially Mark) are hoping that the evening games will be cooler, that's for sure!

View 1 of hockey tournament at Millennium Court 

View 2 of hockey tournament at Millennium Court

Saturday night we enjoyed meeting new people at a BBQ, we were invited by the woman Mark and I had dinner with a few weeks back, that I had met while still living in Houston.  The night was filled with great food, hot tubs/cold tubs, and lots of good conversation, we got a lot of useful information on Singapore and each left with a few new Singapore contacts.  We also received an invitation to a 4th of July party which we are really excited about!  The BBQ also marked the first time Mark and I tried durian, a fruit, which Wikipedia describes as, "widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk...The edible flesh emits a distinctive odor, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive."  Saturday was the first time I had heard anything about durian (although until then I didn't realize it but I had smelled it several times) but Mark knew all about it because he had been asked several times at work if he tried durian and if he liked it.  I guess durian is a pretty big deal to people who originate in Asia but most foreigners don't tend to appreciate it.  Well, Mark and I both tried it and it is very unique - it has a distinct custard like texture and tasted to me something like garlic and roasted peanut pudding.  Needless to say, we didn't really like it.  We were glad we tried it but probably won't be picking it up at the store.

Local durian, you eat the yellow part

We woke up excited for Sunday as we had already bought our tickets to see the Hangover II earlier in the week.  In Singapore, you typically buy your tickets as much in advance as possible because you actually pick your seat at the time of purchase so the earlier you buy the better.  Mark and I got lucky and reserved seats near the back in the very middle.  But, our luck must have ran out by time the movie actually started because the cab driver took us to the wrong theater which made us miss our 2:20pm showing.  Trying to make the best of it we decided to just get tickets to the theater we were now at and see the 3:45pm showing (Mark joked that it would literally the Hangover II for us since we'll have paid for it twice). And when we were 3 couples away from the counter it SOLD OUT.  So we decided to go to the even later showing, we were determined to see this movie at this point!  Tickets in hand and with time to kill we went to an American restaurant named Billy Bombers where the food was okay but the sweet teas were awesome and so big that it made us think we were still in Texas.  And even though it was a later showing than we wanted, we did finally get to see our movie which was the best $55 movie we've ever seen...The only one we've ever seen but the point is that it was good!  Since the night was much later than expected we came home, had dinner, and hit the sack.  I was a really fun but tiring weekend in Singapore!

Texas sized tea from Billy Bombers