Don't worry, it's just 100 baby spiders in my coke

This is what I woke up to this morning. I was drinking some coke yesterday afternoon, trying to stay awake and instead I passed out. No biggie. Until I wake up this morning to what looks like froth in my drink and it's 100 baby spiders (or mites?) crawling over each other in the middle of my coke. I almost drank that coke. That coke was on my nightstand. WTF did those things come from?!?!

Needless to say, bug repellant was on my grocery list today. I had a short list of things to do today. Top of the list was keep occupied until after 5:00 so as to not fall asleep before then. Mission accomplished.

Singlish word of the Day: Every time I hand the cashier my card, they always look at it and say Master, Master (imagine Manny saying it). Sometimes a question, sometimes not. It's a Mastercard. I don't get it.

Awesome Advertising learning: ERP = Exceptionally Reduced Prices. Though now that I've really read the sign I took a picture of, I want to change it to Citywide Bra-Gains. Singapore - 1, Bras - 0.

Dumb American Moment: I decided to try Subway today to see if it tasted the same (it does) and turns out they don't take cards unless it's a NETS card (that'll have to be a later entry, I'm still trying to figure that one out). Uh oh, now I actually have to manage the cash I have. The bills are numerically marked, but the coins, who knows. So I hold out the pile of coins I have and ask the lady to pick the right one. So American. Turns out, the coins have numbers on them too. Damn.

July 1

Not much happened yesterday. I explored how to get to work. Ate at an Italian place by myself and was only mildy awkward. They sat another lonesome guy at the table right next to me (seriously, we were inches apart). He was kinda nerdy looking so I didn't really pay attention to him. Then he answered his phone and was British and was instantly more attractive. There is the answer to Objective #1 (ref Blog entry #1). I then saw the hottest guy I've seen yet, don't know his country of origin. Saw the second hottest guy I've seen yet and only mildy followed him down the street until our paths really did have to split or I was committing to stalking. And got stuck in the rain without an umbrella. That won't happen again.


July 2nd

I wake up to the bugs, get my continental breakfast (surprised I had an appetite at all) and head up to the "gym" to spend some time on the treadmill. I hate treadmills. But this is a 1980s gym and so they don't have Ellipticals. This gym consists of two 1980 treadmills (no place to put my water bottle, no place for reading material, no place for iPod...how did people live like this?!), a stair master, a bike, free weights, a ball, a yoga mat and some sort of contraption for men that I only use to do sit ups on. Did I mention the treadmill works in the metric system? I love weighing myself in kilograms. I'm practically anorexic. But then I had to convert my starting speed to kilometers and boy did I guess wrong. Started out at a freakin sprint. Phew.

Next on the list is conquer the SMRT system to get to the movie theatre. I conquered it yesterday, testing how long it takes to get to work (14 minutes from apt to building for those counting, faster than it takes me in Atlanta) but today, I am a pro. I have my metro card in a tiny wallet so I don't even have to take it out to scan it. I know the best place to stand to get on fast with least amount of shuffling. I know the best entrance to go in and exit to beat the rain...and boy is it raining. I AM A SMRT GENIUS!! We'll test that proclamation tomorrow when I actually have to go beyond one stop and change trains but I'm confident in my ability to at least look like I know where I'm going.

Look what I spotted right off the train on the way to the theatre. I felt a little stalkerish being there when I haven't met anyone yet, and who knows how many of the people around there were employees that I haven't met yet, but it was still fun. We'll come back to how I think Citibank is taking over Singapore later.

Saw Eclipse. Wahoo! Quite good, I'd say. I'm glad it had been longer since I read the books b/c I couldn't remember all the inconsistencies. Other than it still bothers me who they casted for Rosalie and Carlise. You couldn't find real blondes who are ridiculously attractive in Hollywood? Nothing really to comment on in the theatre. It was exactly like watching a movie in Amercia except cheaper and better seats, there weren't even any subtitles - all 3 things were surprising to me. Though there was this spot that played pre-movie and it actually moved me to tears. I'm such a sap. I placed it below. If it doesn't play, it's on the homepage at ThinkFamily.sg

Then I went back to home base to stop at the bookstore. This would be an otherwise uneventful occasion though this time, the cashier actually talked to me today. Asked if I was visiting or in town for a while. Made me feel like a real person. Then I stopped at the grocery store (for said Bug Repellant) among other things and also had an interesting experience. First of all, I could have a whole entry just on the grocery store. They have an entire aisle dedicated to rice. Every size bag of rice you could want...HUGE bags of rice. And the aisle labels are funny too. Just random things like: Chocolates, crackers, savory chocolates. So the first chocolates are not savory? You seperate them in the aisle with crackers in between? And there are others that I can't remember and couldn't write down because of the next story.

I go from not getting one second glance for 2 days to a talking cashier and 2 creepster shelf stockers at the Cold Storage. I first notice them at the detergent aisle. I'm going back and forth trying to decide what to buy for my tiny washer and I notice this tiny man behind me keeps adjusting to stay directly behind me every time I move to the right and left. His friend joins him down the aisle a ways and they giggle and speak in another language. I then back all the way up so there is no room behind me and he leaves. I get the heeby jeebies, make a decision on the detergent and start to head to another aisle and I notice the creeper is at the end of the aisle, peering between boxes at me. HOW CREEPY IS THAT?! So I rush through the rest of my list, the guys following me from aisle to aisle. I'm sure they thought they were sneaky but they shuffled their shoes so I could hear when they were getting close. And they giggled. And seriously, you think I'm dumb enough to not recognize that the same shelf stocker was in the same aisle as me everywhere I went? I want to go back to being a nobody Singaporean. Don't laugh at the dumb american that can't make up her mind on detergent. If my clothes reek, I'm blaming the Cold Storage.

People were not lying when they said Singapore is expensive. It is (other than the theatre). Even with the coversion rate. Lean Cuisines are $11, that's $8 USD for a Lean Cuisine. But the conversion rate is a nice surprise every time I check my bank account. I think I'm down $40 and really I'm just down $29! Which is good, b/c I'm spending money like it's my job. There's stores everywhere. And every time I get hot (always) or it starts raining (almost always) I hop into a store. These stores clearly did not have my dad as a father b/c they are air conditioning the world. It's a little bit of heaven every time you pass an open door.

As I mentioned before, I'm pretty sure Citibank is taking over Singapore. Everywhere I go, they first ask if I have a Citibank card. Some places you'd get a discount if you have a Citibank card. Citibank, or group, has their logo on EVERYTHING. I mean, look at the McCann sign. It's right there. But it seriously is everywhere. I'm going to start snapping shots of it so you can believe me.

Other random things I've noticed:

The escalators all have little footprints on them. As if people don't know what to do. The funny thing is, I find myself purposefully avoiding them. Either not taking that step, or standing to the side. Don't know why. And on the escalator note, at first I was thrown b/c people walk on the other side of the walkways than we do b/c they drive on the opposite sides. You know, like we naturally drift to the right when passing people walking the other direction. Well at first, I kept getting caught up on the otherside. But now, I'm not blaming myself. The escalators, walkways, street crowds, they all switch it up everywhere you are. How's a girl supposed to learn?!

Singapore sometimes reminds me of Atlanta. There's a lot of greenery. Take this stretch of road that is on the way back from the metro. I like it.

The numbers on elevators go up vertically instead of horizontally. That, coupled with the fact that several of these numbers were missing, had me at a dumb amercian moment for a few trips.

Last but not least, this being my last work day that I'll be home in the afternoon, I want to say good-bye to my friend at Robinsons. Every afternoon that I've been here, I've seen her walk behind this wall and text or talk on the phone anywhere between 5-7 times. She doesn't see me wave, but I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the first person in Singapore that I'd recognize their face if I saw them.

Cheers! (that's goodbye in Singlish)

P.S. Just another reason to say NO.