First Few Days in Singapore - Part 2

Okay, a couple of days after we arrived, we went over to show the boys our new house and took them to their new school to meet their teachers. It was very exciting! They would be starting school on Monday! When it was time to move into the house, it was completely empty so we got some rental furniture to use while we shopped for new furniture and waited for the few things we brought over to arrive. So we got the bare essentials - two couches, two beds, a dining table, and a desk. We were also able to rent a set of plates and few pots and pans. Enough to get by. Although, here we are a month later and we are still waiting for our things. . . ugh.

Our house is in the Chancery Lane neighborhood. It is near the Novena Shopping Center, a little north of the city center. It takes us about five minutes to get pretty much anywhere in the city but getting to the school takes a good 30 minutes. Our house is what is called a semi-detached, landed home. That just means that it sits on land (as opposed to a high-rise), and a semi-detached is what we would call a duplex. So we are on one side, and the owners (a very nice elderly couple) live on the other when they are in town. We are in a local neighborhood and are about two minutes walk from the nearest bus stop and about 10 minutes walk from the nearest MRT (subway) station which is in a huge mall with a huge grocery store. Here are some photos of our house and the surrounding area.

Next I'll tell you all about the boy's new school!

Fun Facts!

• Singapore has a very popular fruit called the Durian. It is a delicacy here but it smells so bad that it is illegal to bring onto public transportation. Yuk! We have tried it and it sort of tastes like burnt peanuts. Also, the fruit grows so large that it is quite dangerous to walk under the trees in case one falls on you!


• Since the September 11th attacks, all new home builds in Singapore are required to have a bomb shelter. Check out the photo above. We are not really sure what to do with it - any ideas??


• The national symbol of Singapore is the Merlion.