DRIVING IN SINGAPORE!

One of the things I am most proud of is that I passed the written test and now hold a Singapore drivers license. I know, I know - who'd a thunk'd it? There is a one-year grace period where you can drive using the international drivers license; after that you are required to get a Singapore license or forfeit your privilege of driving here. Shelby and I both waited until we had been here 11 months before taking the written test. Thank goodness we didn't have to take an actual driving test! The written test was challenging enough! We purchased a book to study for the Basic Theory Test, which Shelby put in his briefcase and I never saw it again. I think he was secretly studying on his lunch hour, competing with me to see who would score higher. :) Many expats are known to fail the first time around, and it's not unusual to have to take the exam a couple of times before getting a passing score. The test is computer based, 50 multiple choice questions and a score of 90% or higher is required to pass. The way I figured it, if I failed the exam it wouldn't change my life at all, since I don't get to drive much anyway. But Shelby was sweating bullets the day of the exam, fearing that if he didn't pass, he would have to take taxis to and from work each day until he passed. We both did some online practice tests, over and over and over and over. The confusing part is that there are a lot of particulars about when and where you can drive in regard to the bus schedule. Public transportation is huge here, and there are hundreds of buses running all day long. We had to learn the times of day to avoid the bus lanes, where you can and cannot park, the meanings of lots of road signs, what the zig zag lines mean and what a "raised zebra crossing" means. (there are NO zebras crossing the road-it is merely a hump like a speed bump to indicate a pedestrian crossing!) Did you know that if you talk on your mobile phone while driving there is a $1000 fine and up to a year in jail? And there are cameras everywhere in the intersections, as well as cameras along the highways to catch you speeding. And most annoying to me, everything is in KILOMETRES PER HOUR (gotta love that metric system!) so 90 kilometres on the highway is really about 55 mph. I've been in taxis before that have gone over 130 kilometres per hour and it's pretty scary! Their car starts beeping as a warning to slow down but they usually ignore it (and ignore me, too) Driving in Singapore is on the left side of the road so that's a little hard to get used to. FYI you cannot turn left on a red light in Singapore. Also, you must be 18 years old or older to obtain a Singapore drivers license so unfortunately that means Wes and Kasey won't be driving here. Make that FORTUNATELY! When I'm driving I'm so nervous that I don't turn on the radio, tell the kids do not talk to me or distract me, and drive with my left hand under my left leg so that I don't embarass myself by turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal (a telltale sign that you are a newbie!) When I'm riding along and Shelby is driving, I like to look out the window at the scooters whizzing by and the beautiful flowers hanging from the overpass (called the "flyover") and try to help him navigate. But when I'm by myself and driving, it's serious business! We have a GPS with a lovely gal that the kids named "Sheniqua" who assists me in getting to where I need to go. If I make a wrong turn, she adjusts for my mistake and tells me she is "Recalculating" in what sounds like an irritating voice. Problem is, half the time the GPS can't find satellite reception so Sheniqua is no help whatsoever. I have been known to call Shelby in tears long distance while he was in Bangkok, panicking because I am lost and have no idea how to get home because the darn GPS can't get a signal (I know, I shouldn't talk on my mobile phone but in Singapore there is no place to pull over!) He always tells me I should leave a trail of breadcrumbs when I leave the house so that I can find my way home. It truly is unnerving to be lost in a city of 5 million people and cars driving crazy fast and not knowing where the hell you're going. Especially if it's pouring down rain! Most days I come home in tears and have to lie on the couch for a few minutes to calm down. Those are my IHS (I Hate Singapore) Days. I can count the number of places that I feel comfortable driving to on one hand: Pottery Jungle (nice big parking lot and not a parking garage), my hairdresser, IKEA, the Salvation Army (I actually found some folding chairs there once!) and the school. Yes that's about it; anything outside of that is outside of my comfort zone. Lately I will drive to my bible study if Shelby is traveling and I have the car, and to Chili's if I am desperate. Most places have those formidable, dark and narrow parking garages which intimidate me and I don't want to be the one who puts a scratch on the car! Singapore is so crowded that they try to limit the number of cars on the road by making the cost of cars extremely high. If you see a red license plate it means that car can only be driven between 7:00pm and 7:00am on a weekday, or after 3:00pm on Saturday and anytime on Sunday. When I drive, my comfort zone is the center lane when driving since I never know where I'm going, so I can change lanes if I have to. In Singapore it's not advisable to use your turn signal to indicate your intentions to change lanes-for some reason people see your signal and are determined NOT to let you over! You just have to zip over as quickly as possible and be ready to slam on the brakes. And always, always, always, check your blind spots because the scooters zip in and out and between cars as fast as they possibly can. It is so dangerous! They drive along the lines and not in the lanes, and when all the cars are slowing down, they speed up and zig zag their way thru all the traffic. There are quite a few motorcycle accidents and fatalities with the cyclists. Another thing is, if the roads are wet because of all the rain, it can be slick and the scooters are just flying by. The riders pull over to the side of the road when it begins to rain, literally hundreds of them at a time, and pull out their rain ponchos then off they go! I find it interesting that most of the motor scooter riders wear their jackets backwards when they drive, too. Okay so back to the driving, another thing I miss is going through a drive-thru window to get a drink if I'm thirsty, or to pick up a quick bite for lunch. You can forget about that, because there are only TWO drive-thrus on the entire island (both MacDonald's) and they are nowhere near our part of town. So this means you either have to take a beverage with you or go thirsty/hungry. I miss the days of stopping at Sonic for a cherry limeade and a corndog! So anyway you do not see people chowing down on a Big Mac as they drive here. Last but not least, and then I'll leave the driving subject alone, I will say that I have never prayed so much in my life as I do when I drive in Singapore. Every single time I get behind the wheel I have to have a moment of prayer before I can pull out of the driveway.(oh I forgot, we don't have a driveway. Or a garage. We have a covered front porch and pull the car right up to the front door!) And every time I find my way back home I always remember to thank God for bringing me home safely! :) P.S. Shelby passed his test the first time around, too. :)

TAXI DRIVERS IN SINGAPORE!

Ok this has been on my mind for some time now, I want to share with you some of my experiences with the taxi drivers here! Lately I have been having trouble getting a taxi in the midmorning to go into the city. The Woodlands neighborhood is out a ways and there are not many taxi drivers up here in this part of town until the afternoon. Usually I call for a taxi to come to the house and pick me up rather than walking down to the main road and flagging one down. Of course there's an additonal fee, but it's worth it to me not to have to stand in the hot sunshine with the sweat running down my back when I'm trying to go somewhere. Lately all the taxis are booked when I need one, so I end up walking down to 7-11 and trying to get one from there. Last week I waited 25 minutes and was late to my appointment! So frustrating! I can't wait to get back to the U.S. where I can jump in my own car and drive myself where I want to go, when I want to go! The taxi drivers are called "Uncle"- yes, every driver is "Uncle" but I can't bring myself to call them that. Wesley and Kasey call them Uncle all the time (and the cafeteria workers at school are called "Auntie" pronounced "onty") The drivers all carry big bottles of water with them because they are in their cars almost all day long. (Actually nearly everyone in Singapore carries bottles of water around because it's so stinking hot and you don't want to get dehydrated. Many shopkeepers offer water when you enter their store.) I'm guessing that probably 90% of the taxis are stick-shift, and probably half of the drivers or more do not know how to drive a stick-shift, which means a lot of lurching in the car and a lot of nausea for me. At every red light, they pull up their emergency brake, then when the light turns green they take it off. Every time! This week I took a taxi home from the grocery store and had put my groceries in the trunk. After I got out of the car he forgot to open the trunk and started to drive off! I had to chase him down and bang on the trunk to get him to stop! Most of the taxi drivers don't talk much except to find out where you want to go, and which route you want to take to get there (like I really know which route, are you kidding?) I always just say "the quickest route". I have gotten used to listening to Chinese songs on the radio and talk radio shows in Mandarin. Amazing how I can just tune it out. Catch a few Zzzz's while someone else fights the traffic for me! Now there is an "oldies" radio station in Singapore that plays a lot of 70's and 80's music - think Carpenters, Air Supply and Michael Jackson. Every now and then I get a chatty driver who asks a lot of questions. It always starts with "where you from?" and for some odd reason they always assume I'm from Australia! Go figure! When I say the United States and more specifically Dallas, Texas, the response is something like "Who shot JR?" or "Home of George Bush" or "Everything's big in Texas, lah?" The American community here is full of Texans, mostly from the Houston area and mostly employed by oil and gas companies like Exxon Mobil. And while I'm thinking about it, not that it has anything to do with anything, but for some reason a lot of the older Chinese men here have at least one long fingernail, sometimes more than one, but usually I notice at least one when they have their hands on the steering wheel. I'm guessing that must be the nose-picking finger? And on more than one occasion I will be speaking to an older Chinese man who has ONE very long whisker growing out of his cheek! Just one, like an antennae or something! Someone told me they think it's a sign of intelligence maybe? I think it's a sign of forgetfulness-HELLO, YOU FORGOT TO SHAVE THAT SAME HAIR AGAIN TODAY!!! It is very distracting, to say the least! I'm trying to have a conversation but find my eyes keep darting over to the long gray hair that is just begging to be yanked. I have learned that if I'm "in town" and need to get back to the Woodlands where I live, I need to start finding a taxi around 3:30pm or else I could get stuck downtown for a long time. I found out the hard way that 4:00pm is what they call "shift change", meaning the taxi drivers only want to go to their neck of the woods and not up to the north side of the island where I live. If I approach the taxi and ask them to take me to the Woodlands they yell "SHIFT CHANGE" and speed off like I have offended them... Oh, and if it's raining outside, like it is almost every single day at least once, the taxi queus (lines) are insanely long and you can forget about getting home on time. It's sometimes quicker to step out of the queue and call for a taxi to come pick me up - but again, a service charge is added to the fare. Depending on the time of day, a round trip to town and back home for me costs about $35 Sing dollars. So if I do that a few times a week, it sure adds up! I try to plan my outings to get as much done as possible in as few trips as possible, or wait until Shelby travels and I have the car, or take the MRT which I will save for another discussion later. The nice thing about taxis, obviously, is letting someone else do the driving which is great since I never know where I'm going, plus I don't have to park! Also when we have a big group going out, or when the family is headed to the airport with all our luggage, we call ahead for a "Maxi Taxi" which seats 12 passengers. Now that's the way to go! We can have adult beverages at dinner and not worry with who has to drive home. :)

KASEY'S SOFTBALL EXCHANGE IN JAKARTA

The Lady Eagles played four games in Jakarta this past weekend and walked away with a 4-0 record. The girls were housed by families from the Jakarta International School. I went to Jakarta with a group of parents from SAS while Shelby and Wes stayed at home. We had a good time cheering the girls on (and the boys team too!) Kasey played second base and pitcher, and had a great time with her team!

Softball players doing cheers in the dugout is always entertaining!

WESLEY'S SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

Last weekend Wesley's softball team played in the United World College tournament and came away with first place! Wes plays shortstop and is one of the team captains this year. It's a great group of kids and they have a lot of fun.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS!!!

I have good news and bad news and they are both the same.....we are moving back to the U.S. this summer! Yea! Boo! Talk about mixed emotions!!! Siemens is moving us back to Dallas after school is out in June. The good news is that Shelby still has a job, yea! And we get to go back to Dallas instead of somewhere unfamiliar, yea! But the kids will not get to graduate from Singapore American School, and that's a big disappointment. Huge disappointment! Wes will be returning to Flower Mound High School as a senior and Kasey as a junior. We had really hoped that we would get to stay in Singapore long enough to see them graduate from SAS. There have been a lot of tears at our house the past two weeks. Looking on the bright side, we told the kids they can get their drivers license this summer, get a car, get a JOB! Not a lot of excitement there. We can go to Friday night football games again! Go to OSU football games! Feel the cool air again! Stop sweating so much! No more lizards in our house! I can have a disposal in my kitchen sink again! And get the washing machine out of the kitchen and the dryer off the back patio! No more damp mail and stale potato chips! No more $11 boxes of cereal! Mexican food, here we come!!! :)

We will definitely miss the friends we have made here in Singapore, the comraderie and fellowship with other expats in our neighborhood. Shelby and I always compare this experience to what we assume it might be like for those in the military - you make friends quickly and become close as you share common experiences in a foreign place - only to have to say goodbye all too soon. We feel like we have such a different perspective on the world now as a result of our experiences overseas, and feel so fortunate that we were able to share these experiences over the last couple of years with our children. Who knows what direction their lives may take, now that they have seen more of the world and broadened their horizons beyond Texas! The world is not as big as I used to think it was.

We will be focusing on spending the next few months in Singapore and possibly include a side trip to Vietnam before we leave if possible. Wes and Kasey have already made a bucket list of things they want to do with their friends before we move back. Shelby and I will head to Dallas to find a new home and a couple of cars soon too. Sugar is most excited of all, looking forward to chasing squirrels again in Texas!

I read on a t-shirt not too long ago, "Treat Everything You Do Like it's an Adventure, and it Will Become One". Coming to Singapore has been one big adventure, and hopefully our repatriation back to Dallas will be a welcome adventure as well.

CARNIVALE PARTY AT THE AMERICAN CLUB

We were invited to a Carnivale Party at the American Club with a group of friends. It was Mardi Gras themed and lots of fun!!!

With Nora, Dennis, and Jody

Shelby and I with Buddy and Jody Hicks, Tony and Kathy Flippo, and Dennis and Nora Creech. Good times with good friends! :)

Jody, Nora and I

Buddy and Jody (Buddy was catching a 2:00am flight to Houston a few hours later!)

Tony and Kathy

Buddy and Jody, Jay and Cari

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Lion dance being performed in the neighborhood

Chinese Paper Cutting Demonstration - it is very similar to folding paper and cutting designs into it like we do to make snowflakes!

GONG XI FA CAI!!! Meaning "Wishing you great prosperity". Chinese New Year is a VERY big deal in Asia. I would compare it to our celebration of Christmas in the U.S. Chinese New Year dates vary each year depending on the lunar calendar, falling somewhere between January 21 and February 19 each year. The Chinese people celebrate for 15 days! Most Chinese families are busy with cleaning and decorating their homes and shopping for special foods such as waxed ducks, Chinese sausages, mandarin oranges and traditional cakes and biscuits. A raw fish salad called "Yu Sheng" is tossed high into the air with chopsticks to symbolize prosperity and abundance. On Chinese New Year's Eve the very important main event is the family reunion dinner. The family usually wears new clothes of red and gold. A taxi driver told me that the tradition is to go visiting each and every family member during that two week period. He said they eat, play mahjong, the men gamble (in his family anyway), they sing karaoke, and the children and unmarried people receive "hang bao" packets which are packets of money as a symbol of good luck. Most homes and businesses are decorated in red and gold with Chinese lanterns hanging and "Gong Xi Fa Cai" written in banners and scrolls. There is a "Gong Xi Fa Cai" song that is played everywhere you go; I even heard it several times in the market. One of the shopkeepers even gave me a gift bag with mandarin oranges in it, a symbol of good luck for me in the coming year! The stores are jam packed with shoppers and the groceries are flying off the shelves. I would compare it to last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve! During this time, unlucky words are not spoken and brooms are not used to avoid sweeping away the good luck. This year we had a block party and had a lion dance performance. It is very common to see and hear numerous lion dance performances throughout Chinese New Year. The performers dress in colorful costumes and dance to the beat of drums to celebrate and bring prosperity to homes and businesses.